(J. H. Merriam — Birds of Connecticut. 9 



at Providence, K. I., May 23<1, 1875."* Mr. Jencks writes me that 

 tlie Connecticut record is a mistake, as all the specimens were taken 

 near Providence, R. I. 



Mr. William Brewster thus s])eaks of their habits and appearance 

 in the south : "When seen one hundred feet or more above the earth 

 they remind one more of insects than of birds, so active, and so very 

 frail and slender do they seem. In motions, they bear, perhaps, a 

 greater resemblance to the Redstart [Setophaga ruticilla) than to 

 any other bird, like him launching out frequently after insects and 

 alighting with spread tail and drooping wings. They have withal 

 an impertinent, quizzical air, savoring strongly of Cat-bird ways; 

 the song is indeed quite that of the latter bird, but in miniature (if I 

 may apply such an expression to sound), a quaint mocking little 

 strain, continued half a minute or more at a time, and full of mewings 

 and harsh chatters, with an occasional full round note, but altogether 

 so feeble as scarcely to be audible at twenty yards' distance. The 

 note used by both sexes is a harsh but rather faint lisp."f 



Family, PARID^. 



13. Lophophanes biCOlor (Linne) Bonaparte. Tufted Titmouse. 



A rare visitor from the south. " New Haven," Linsley. Josiah G. 

 Ely, Esq., writes me from Lyme, New London Co., Conn., that he 

 shot a Tufted Titmouse, Feb. 27th, 1872, in that vicinity (the ground 

 being covered to a considerable depth with snow), and saw another 

 in Jan., 1874. They were found flitting about among dense hemlocks 

 in a very wild portion of country. It has also been taken near Hart- 

 ford, Conn., by Dr. D. Crary, but must be regarded as accidental, 

 though a common resident in northern New Jersey (Elizabeth, 

 1871-72). Also breeds on Long Island "seeking retirement in the 

 lonely part of the woods among the heavy timbei"."J It has been 

 found as far north as New IIampshire.§ 



14. ParUS atricapillus Linne. Black-capped Cliickadee. 



A common resident; breeds in holes in trees. Gregarious except 

 during the breeding season. 



* Mr. Jencks to H. A. Purdie, see Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 

 vol. ii, pp. 20 and 21. Jan. 1877. 



\ Annals Lyceum Nat. Hist. N. Y., vol. xi, p. 1^2, June, 1875. 



X Birds of Long Island, J. P. Giraud, Jr. p. 78. 1844. 



§ Belknap's History of New Hampshire, vol. iii, p. 17.S. 1792. 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. IV. 2 July, 1877. 



