HUDSONIAN CHICKADEE 371 



willowtit, but at other times it is obviously softer and less harsh, and 

 easily distinguished. Sometimes it is repeated rapidly in a way that 

 would doubtless recall the chickadee to an American observer but that 

 to a Britisher recalls the marshtit, for in Europe oddly enough it is the 

 marshtit that has (among others) a rapid chicka-bee-bee-bee note and 

 not the willowtit, although the latter is more closely allied to the 

 chickadee and indeed is currently regarded as a form of the same species. 

 The call note is a hoarse little tzeep or tsip and tsee-ip and the same 

 note, or duplications of it, commonly precedes the tsaa — tzeet-tma-tsaa, 

 tzitzi-tsaa-tzaa, etc. It has also a very shrill keening note, again like 

 the willowtit. The song also recalls the song of the willowtit, as 

 opposed to the marshtit, in being distinctly warbling, and I have de- 

 scribed it in my notes as a sustained, low, liquid, ripply or bubbling 

 warble." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Arctic regions of northern Asia and northwestern North 

 America ; nonmigratory. 



In northern Asia the range of this chickadee extends eastward from 

 the Yenisei River to the coast of Bering Sea and south to Lake Baikal. 

 In North America the species is found north to northern Alaska 

 (Kowak River and Altana River) ; northern Yukon (Old Crow) ; and 

 northern Mackenzie (Richards Island and Fort Anderson). East to 

 northwestern Mackenzie (Fort Anderson). South to northwestern 

 IMackenzie (Fort Anderson) ; and central Alaska (Twelvemile Creek, 

 probably Dishna River, and St. Michael). West to western Alaska 

 (St. Michael and Kowak River). 



Three races of this species are recognized, the typical form of northern 

 Europe (P. c. cinctus) ; the form of eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, around 

 the shores of the Okhotsk Sea (P. c. obtectus) ; and the form found 

 in North America known as P. c. alascensis. 



Egg dates. — Alaska: 2 records, June 10 and 24. 



Arctic Canada: 1 record, June 30. 



Mackenzie: 1 record, June 1. 



Siberia: 1 record, June 1. 



PARUS HUDSONICUS HUDSONICUS Forster 

 HUDSONIAN CHICKADEE 



HABITS 



The type race of these brown-capped chickadees was described and 

 named many years ago from specimens taken on the west coast of 

 Hudson Bay, at Severn River. For nearly 100 years it remained the 



