508 Birds of Colorado 



Genus PSALTRIPARUS. 



Very small Titmice — wing under 2-0 ; the head without crest, 

 short and rounded wings and long and graduated tails, clearly exceed- 

 ing the wing in length ; plumage dull and grey without black on the 

 head or throat. 



Four species are known from the western United States and temperate 

 parts of Mexico. 



Plumbeous Bush-Tit. Psaltri'parus 'plumbeus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 744 — Colorado Records— Aiken 72, p. 195 ; 

 Drew 85, p. 15 ; Lowe 94, p. 270 ; Cooke 97, pp. 123, 222 ; Oilman 07, 

 p. 195 ; Rockwell 08, p. 179 ; Cary 09, p. 184 ; Warren 09, p. 17. 



Description. — Adult — General colovu- above blueish-grey, sUghtly 

 washed with olive on the back, darker and duskier on the wings and 

 tail ; sides of the head from the lores to the ear-coverts pale greyish- 

 brown ; below dirty white ; iris pale yellow (according to Aiken, brown 

 in the male, yellow in the female), bill and legs black. Length 4-30 ; 

 wing 2-05 ; tail 2-30 ; culmen -24 ; tarsus -65. 



The sexes are alike, and the young hardly distinguishable from the 

 adults. 



Distribution. — The drier districts of the western United States from 

 eastern Oregon south to western Texas and south-eastern California, 

 and perhaps into northern Mexico. 



This Bush-Tit is a rather uncommon resident in Colorado and is 

 restricted chiefly to the southern and western portions of the State. 

 It comes as far north as Fremont and El Paso cos. on the eastern 

 slopes of the mountains. It is practically restricted to the piiiona 

 and cedars of the upper Sonoran zone, and does not range above 7,800 

 feet as a rule. 



The following are the recorded localities : El Paso co. and Fremont 

 CO., winter and summer (Aiken coll.), Sahda, December (Frey), Wet 

 Mountains up to 7,800 feet (Lowe), Coventry, breeding (Warren), 

 Grand Junction, November, A. H. Howell (Rockwell) ; Glenwood 

 Springs, breeding (Cooke), near Douglas Spring (Cary). 



Habits. — This Bush-Tit frequents the shrubs and bushes 

 on steep hill-sides, and the pinon and cedar country ; 

 in winter it is to be met with in fairly large flocks ; it 

 is one of the most industrious and active of the family, 

 searching with sharp prying eyes for insects and their 

 larvse, and keeping up an incessant querulous chirping. 



