426 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



grass stems and soft weed leaves, more or less mixed with the cottony 

 substances. Herbert Brandt has sent me his notes on a nest that "was 

 made entirely of silvery, curly leaves, an inch or two in length, fashioned 

 into a shallow basket form, but so loosely held together that the nest 

 was removed, intact, with difficulty." 



Eggs. — Five to seven eggs make up tlie usual set for the bridled 

 titmouse. The eggs are ovate and have little or no gloss. They are 

 white and quite immaculate. The measurements of 50 eggs average 

 16.1 by 12.6 millimeters; the eggs sliowing the four extremes measure 

 18.0 by 14.0, 13.7 by 12:3, and 14.0 by 11.5 millimeters. 



Plumages. — I have seen no very young birds of this species. In the 

 Juvenal plumage the young bridled titmouse looks very much like the 

 adult, but the "bridling" marks on the head are less sharply defined, the 

 throat patch is mainly grayish, only the chin being clear blac^, and the 

 whole plumage is softer and less compact. This plumage is worn until 

 about the middle of July, v/hen a molt of the contour feathers, but not 

 the flight feathers, produces a first winter plumage, in which adults and 

 young are alike. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt beginning in July. In fresh 

 fall plumage the back and rump are more olivaceous than in the more 

 grayish worn plimiage of the spring and summer. The sexes are alike 

 in all plumages. 



Food. — Nothing seems to have been recorded on the food of the 

 bridled tit, but it probably does not differ materially from that of other 

 titmice of this genus, all of v/hich live in similar habitats and spend 

 much of their time foraging in cjevices in the bark, on the trunks and 

 branches of the oaks, hunting for insects, their larvae and their eggs. 

 Their food habits are probably mostly, if not wholly, beneficial. 



Behavior. — ^After the young are strong on the wing, late in August, 

 these active, sprightly little titmice may be seen flitting through the oak 

 v/oods in family parties, the young learning to forage for themselves. 

 Later in the fall they form larger groups. Henshaw (1875) considered 

 that this species differs somewhat in its flocking habits from some of the 

 other titmice. He writes : 



Instead of being found in small companies or as stragglers on the skirts of the 

 large flocks of other species, it habitually moves about in flocks, composed often 

 of twenty-five, and even more, of its own species; its cxchisivcness in thi; particu- 

 lar being quite noticeable, though once or twice I have seen a few on inti- 

 mate terms of companionship with the other Oiickadees. It pays especial attention 

 to the oaks, in which trees they move about slowly from limb to limb, scrutinizing 

 each crevice and fold of bark v/hich is likely to serve as a hiding place for in- 

 sects. They are thus very thorough in their search, but have less of the rapidit}.' 

 of movement and nervous energy which character!?? other members of this 



