213 



bv the syllables " p^s^ee-teV," uttered in a hissing tone. From tliis it receives its Fiumsh name, am 

 the superstitious among the Finns regard it as a bird of bad omen, and predict a bootless errand 

 for the bear or squirrel hunter who chances to meet one of these busy little pistee tainen, as he starts 

 for the forest. The Alaskau and East Siberian form is closely related to P. hudsonicus, but the 

 following characters will serve to distinguish the two : 



, unci of a 



p. HUDSONICUS. 



Crowu dark smoky browu. 

 Backbrowuisb, much ligliter than 



more fulvons tiut. 

 Lores and cheek-patcb. white. 

 Sides of uock ashy-gray, aud an indistiuot shade 



of the same across the uuchal region separat- 



iti<' the crown from the back. 

 AVings^aud tail brown, edged with a palo ashy- 

 gray. 

 Cheeks and throat-patch smoky-black. 

 Breast aud abdomen dingy-white, and a largo 



flank-patch of dull vinaceous-browu. 

 The average dimensions of a series of these birds, 



numbering fourteen are : length of wing 2.57 ; 



tail, 2.73; tarsus, .65; cnlmen, .oG. 



Crown ashy-brown, rather dark. 



Back a lighter sh.ad6 of the same, washed with very 



pale fulvous. 

 Lores, cheeks, and side of neck white, the white 



sometimes forming a very slight nuchal collar. 

 Wings and tail brownish-gray, edged with pale 



silvery gray or white. 

 Cheek and throat black. 

 Breast and abdomen white, washed with a slight 



sh.ide of pale brown, which covers the flanks. 

 The feet and claws of this bird appear to average 



stouter and heavier than i n h udsonicus , although 



there is a considerable amount of individual 



variation in this respect in both species. 

 A series of nine specimens average : length of wing, 



2.G5; tail, 2.81; tarsus, .62; culmon, .30. 



The East Siberian form is distinguished from its European and West Siberian relative mainly 

 bv i'ts lon-er tad aud wings aud shorter tarsus. In the Ibis for 1879, Seebohm states that his Lake 

 Baikal specimens show less rusty-brown on the flanks than do the European birds, and ought to 

 be referred to the variety ijriccscem of Sharp and Dresser. By a direct comparison of my Alaskan 

 series with two specimens from Lapland, in theXational Museum collection, I find that the smoky- 

 brown of the crown, in the latter specimens, is very similar in shade to the crown of F. hudson- 

 icus of Alaska; but the contrast between the crown and back is considerably more marked m 

 cinctus than in hudsonicus, and much more marked in cinctus than in oitectus. The whole back 

 and rump of clnetus are rusty or reddish-brown, and a little paler than the rusty-brown of the 

 flanks which latter color is a little paler than the brown on the flanks of hudsonicus. In obtectus 

 the flauk-wash is frequentlv no heavier than in examples of P. septcntrionaUs, and in the darkest 

 specimens is but little darker than in cinctus proper, while the flanks are invariably strikingly 

 paler The color of this flank- wash is faintly traceable on the back and rump of some Alaskan 

 specimens and absent in others, but an almost uniform tiut of crown and back is generally char- 

 acteristic of obtectus. The throat-patch is dark smoky brown, with a wash of reddish-brown in 

 cinctus and smoky-black with a brownish wash in obtectus. The latter is also distinguishable by 

 the clear silver ashy-gray of the wing and tail feathers with the whitish edging of the former, 

 whereas the wings aud tail of cinctus are of a dull ashy-gray with a smoky shade of brownish. 

 The comparative measurements of two Lapland and two Alaskan birds are as follows : 



Outside of certain differences in proportions, as shown in the measurements given, obtectus may 

 be said to differ from typical cinctus very much as septcntrionaUs varies from typical atncapillus. 



Parus iirDSONicrs Foest. Hudsouiau Chickadee. 

 This bird has been found throughout the wooded portion of Alaska, from its southern coast- 

 line at Fort Kenai, north through the Kuskoquim aud Yukou River regions to the northern tree- 

 limit, well within the Arctic Circle. In the southern portion of its range its habitat overlaps that 



