108 



XORTII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



crown or throat. Eyes white in some .specimens, brown in others. Nest purse-shaped; 

 eggs unspotted, white. 



No bird of tliis genus beloug.s to the eastern portion ol the L'nited States. 

 The three species may be defined as follows : — 



A. Head striped witli black on the sides. 



P. melaiiotis. The stripes passing under the eye and uniting on the 

 occiput. ]hih. Eastern Mexico 



B. No stripes on the head. 



P. minimus. Back ashy ; crown hght brown. Hah. Pacific Province of 

 United States. .......... var. minimns. 



Back and crown uniform ashy. Hab. Middk' Province anil southern Rocky 

 Mountains of United States var. plumbeus. 



Psaltriparus melanotis, I'.oxap. 



BLACK-EAEED BTJSH-TITMOUSE. 



Parus melanotis, HARTLAns, Rev. Zobl. 18i4, 216. Paxilc melanotis, Bp. Consp. 1850, 

 230. ^Egilhaliscus melanotis, Cab. Mus. Hein. I, 1850, 1851, 90. Psaltria melanotis, 

 Westermaxn, Bijd. Dierk. 1851, 16, plate. Psaltriparus melanotis, Bokap. C. R. 

 XXXVIII, 1854. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 299. — Ib. 1864, 172 (City Mex.).— 

 Salvin, Ibis, 1866, 190 (Guatemala). — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 386, pi. liii, fig. 

 3 ; Review, 84. Psaltriparus personatus, Bonap. C. K. XXXI, Sept. 1850, 478. 



Sp. Char. A black patch on each cheek, nearly meeting behind. Crown and edges of 

 the wing and tail ash-gray ; rest of upper parts yellowish-brown, lighter on the rump. 

 Beneath whitish; anal region tinged with yellowish-brown. Length about 4 inches; 

 wing, 1.90 ; tail, 2.30. 



II.iB. Eastern Mexico; south to Guatemala; Oaxaea (high region), Sclater. East 

 Humboldt Mountains, Nevada? Ridgway. 



Habits. In regard to the specific pecidiarities and the distinct individual 



habits of the members of this pretty little 

 species, little is at present known. Its mode 



A^ ^=^^^^ °f nesting has not been observed, and no 



'^^ ^^^^^ mention is made, by those who have met 



with it, of its peculiarities of song, nor have 

 we any information in regard to any of its 

 haliits. Its geographical distribution, so far 

 as ascertained, is from the south side of the 

 valley of the Eio Grande of IMe.xico to Gua- 

 temala, and there is no reliable evidence of 

 its crossing the United States boundary line, unless ~Mr. Eidgway is correct 

 in his assurance that he saw it in the East Humboldt Mountains of Nevada, 

 near Fort Euby. It was first described from Guatemalan specimens. Mr. 

 O. Salvin (Ibis, 1866, p. 190) states that on more than one occasion he 

 observed what he believed to be this species, in the pine-woods of the 

 mountains near Solola, and above the lake of Atitlan. 



Psaltriparui minimus. 



