PLUMBEOUS CHICXADEJB 353 



usually 10 to 15 feet from the ground." A set of four eggs in my col- 

 lection was taken by Oscar E. Baynard near Leesburg on March 30, 

 1910. The nest was about 5 feet up in a dead pine stub, about 5 inches 

 in diameter, that stood on the edge of a small pond surrounded with 

 pine trees. The cavity was about 7 inches deep; the nest was made of 

 dry grass and lined with a few feathers and a considerable quantity of 

 cattle hair and fur from a rabbit. 



Frederick V. Hebard writes to me of a nest that was placed in the top 

 of a 4-foot fence post along a road; "the nest was composed chiefly of 

 dried grasses with a webbing of cypress bark strips and hairs, including 

 two of a raccoon and one of a wildcat. The inside of the nest was 

 softened with raccoon and fox-squirrel fur. The coon and wildcat 

 hairs were probably taken from some of those trapped during winter." 



Eggs. — Four or five eggs seem to be the usual numbers in the nests 

 of the Florida chickadee, though very few data are available to the 

 writer. 



The eggs are practically indistinguishable from those of the Carolina 

 chickadee. The measurements of 39 eggs average 15.1 by 12.1 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 18.1 by 14.8, 17.8 

 by 15.3, 12.9 by 11.5, and 13.8 by 10.7 millimeters. 



Except as affected by the difference in environment, the food, be- 

 havior, and voice of this chickadee are similar to those of the more 

 northern race, and the plumage changes are apparently the same. 



PARUS CAROLINENSIS AGILIS Sennett 



PLUMBEOUS CHICKADEE 



HABITS 



The 1931 Check-list says that this southwestern race of carolinensis 

 "breeds in the Lower Austral zone from northern Oklahoma to Refugio 

 and Kendall counties, Texas." Mrs. Margaret Morse Nice (1931) says 

 that it is rare in northwestern Oklahoma, but "resident in central Okla- 

 homa from Tulsa and Hughes to Woodward and Jackson counties." 

 In the region of Austin, Tex., George Finlay Simmons (1925) regards 

 it as a "fairly common permanent and regular resident; appears to be 

 more common during winter because of its preference for civilization at 

 that season." Its haunts seem to be very similar to those of the Carolina 

 chickadee — edges of woods, open woodlands, more or less open country, 

 and, especially in winter, in towns and about houses. 



It is slightly larger than specimens of P. c. carolinensis from the 

 southern States, paler above and with whiter underparts. 



Nesting. — Mr. Simmons (1925) says that, about Austin, the nests are 



