NUTHATCHES AND TITS 455 



you look up and think, '" What an alert, bright bird," but when the 

 fluffy, bob-tailed little pygmies come trooping in and alight upside 

 down against the tips of the pine branches, talking in soft little 

 liquid notes, you feel like exclaiming, •' Oh, you winsome little mites, 

 how jolly it is to see you again ! " 



A pair feeding nearly grown young were discovered by Mr. Bailey 

 in the Sierra Nevada toward the last of July. Their small nest hole 

 was widened from a crack in the hard shell of a half decayed pine, 

 where the digging was probably easy. The old birds came freely 

 with food, though Mr. Bailey stood at the foot of the tree, and when 

 the young came up to be fed their parents passed inside, and after 

 feeding sat a moment talking and fluttering their wings at the door. 



GENUS PARUS. 



General Characters. — Bill much shorter than head, curved ; wings and 

 tail about equal and rounded ; plumage loose. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Head crested. 



2. Throat black wollweberi. p. 4r)7. 



2'. Throat not black. 



•J. Crest black or brown, contrasting with gray of back. 



atricristatus. p. 455. 

 3'. Crest gray like back. 



4. Upper parts dark brownish or olive gray. Pacific coast region 



of California and Oregon iiioriiatus. p. 45G. 



4'. Upper parts light gray. Colorado to Sierra Nevada. 



griseus, p. 45(). 

 1'. Head not crested. 

 2. Top of head brown. 



3. Back brownish gray columbianus. p. 451 ». 



3'. Back dark rufous. 



4. Sides and flanks rufous rufescens. p. 450. 



4. Sides and flanks gray, faintly tinged with rutoi.s. 



neglectus, j). 459. 

 2'. Top of head black. 



3. With white line over eye gambeli, p. 45S. 



3'. Witbout wbite line over eye, 



4. Tail longer than wing. Rocky Mountain platt-aii. 



septentrionalis. p. 457. 

 4'. Tail equal to or shorter than wing-. 



5. Sides gray like back sclateri. p. 45S. 



5'. Sides not gray. 



0. Sides buffy (whiti.sh in summer). Eiistern. 



atricapillus, p. 457. 

 0. Sides brown occidentalis, p. 45S. 



SubKcnus Lophophanes. 

 Crested. 



732. Parus atricristatus Cass. Black-ckestki) Titmoisk. 



Adults. Forehead irhite or suinkij brown, crest Itlack ; rest of uppi-r 



