398 BULLETIlSr 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



etc., in Allegheny Mountains to North Carolina (in spruce belt); irreg- 

 ularly (in winter) to northern Virginia, Kentucky, southern Illinois, 

 Missouri, etc. 



A separate "colony '' inhabits the area between the Rocky Mountains 

 and Cascade Range, in eastern Washington (Walla Walla, Ellensburg, 

 etc.), western Idaho (Lemi, Fort Sherman, etc.) and central British 

 Columbia (Sicamores, Clinton, Ashcroft, etc.)"^* 



[Par(i.s] atricapillus Linn^us, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, i, 1766, 341 (based on La 

 Mesange a teste noire de Canada, Parus canadeyisis atricapiUus, Brisson, Orn., 

 iii, 553, pi. 29, fig. 1).— Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 1008.— Latham, Index 

 Orn., ii, 1790, 566.— Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 232, no. 3354.— Coues, Key N. 

 Am. Birds, 1872, 81. 



Parus atricapiUus, For,ster, Philos. Trans., Ixii, 1772, 407 (Fort Albany, Severn 

 K.).— Wilson, Am. Orn., i, 1808, 134, pi. 8, fig. 4.— Vieillot, Enc. Meth., 

 ii, 1823, .508.— Bonaparte, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., iv, 1825, 254; Ann. 

 Lye. N. Y., ii, 1826, 100; Geog. and Comp. List., 1838, 20.— Lesson, Man. 

 d'Orn., i, 1828, .320; Traite d'Orn., 1831, 456.— Swainson and Richardson, 

 Fauna Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 226. — Nuttall, Man. Orn. IT. S. and Can., 2d ed., 

 1841, 260.— Audubon, Orn. Biog., iv, 1838, 374, pi. 353, fig. 3; Synopsis, 

 1839, 79; Birds Am., oet. ed., ii, 1841, 146, pi. 126.— CASsiN,Illustr. Birds 

 California, Texas, etc., 1853, 17. — Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 

 390; Cat. N. Am. Birds, 1859, no. 290; Review Am. Birds, 1864, 80.— (??) 

 Woodhouse, in Rep. Sitgreaves's Expl. Zufii and Col. R., 1853, 68 (Indian 

 Territory).— Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 13 (Philadelphia; Montreal).— 

 Verrill, Proc. Essex Inst., iii, 1862, 150 (Oxford Co., Maine). — Boardman, 

 Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H., ix, 1862, 126 (Calais, Maine) .—McIlwraith, Proc. 

 Essex Inst., v, 1866, 88 (Hamilton, Ontario).— Allen, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. 

 H., i, 1868, 493 (Iowa) ; Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, ii, 1871, 261, part (crit.).— 

 TuRNBULL, Birds E. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 1869, 21. — Trippe, Proc. 

 Essex Inst., vi, 1871, 115 (Minnesota); Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H., xv, 1872, 236 

 (Decatur and Mahaska counties, s. Iowa; breeding). — Maynard, Proc. 

 Bost. Soc. N. H., xiv, 1871 (New Hampshire). — Coues, Check List, 1873, 

 no. 31; 2d ed., 1882, no. 44; Birds N. W., 1874, 20.— (?) Snow, Birds Kan- 

 sas, 1873, 6 (com. resid. ). — Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway', Hist. N. Am. 

 Birds, i, 1874, 96, pi. 7, fig. 1. — Langdon, Birds Cincinnati, 1877, 4 (winter 

 visitor?). — Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iii, 1878, 19 (descr. young); 

 iii, 1886, 177 (Black Mts. w. North Carolina, in balsam belt; crit.). — 

 Scott (W. E. D.), Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iv, 1879, 140 (Johnson Co., s. w. 

 Missouri; breeding; crit.). — Covert, Annot. List Birds Washtenaw Co., 

 Michigan, 1881, 175 (resident). — Ridgway, Nom. N. Am. Birds, 1881, no. 



«The present example of an isolated colony of a particular form, or what must 

 be regarded as the same form in the absence of obvious distinctive characters, is one 

 of several instances which are very troublesome to both the systematist and the 

 student of geographic distribution. The birds of this species occurring, exclusively, 

 in the area defined above are clearly intermediates between P. a. septentrionalis, a 

 form larger and paler than P. <i. atricapillus, which occupies the region immediately 

 eastward, and P. a. occidentalix, a form smaller and darker than P. a. atricapillus, 

 which inhabits the region immediately westward. It thus happens that, while 

 these puzzling birds are practically, if not absolutely, indistinguishable from P. a. atri- 

 capillus they can hardly be considered exactly the same, since they are everywhere 

 widely cut off from the latter by the very extensive area occupied by P. a. septen- 

 trionalis. 



