340 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A study of Mr. Taverner's paper must convince the reader that sep- 

 tentrionalis is one of those milHmeter races, based on averages, that many 

 of the individuals of this race cannot be definitely recognized as such 

 from the characters alone, and that his figures ''open the question of the 

 desirability of formal recognition of subspecies of which few or no in- 

 dividuals can certainly be referred to their proper race by physical 

 characters without reference to the geographical origin." 



In his notes from Montana, Aretas A. Sounders writes : "The only dif- 

 ference I have noted in the field between long-tailed and black-capped 

 chickadees is that of habitat, the long-tailed being chiefly an inhabitant 

 of willow thickets and Cottonwood groves, not extending its range up 

 into the evergreen forests of the mountains, as the blackcap does in the 

 Adirondacks. Perhaps this is partly because the evergreen forests are 

 inhabited by mountain chickadees." Other observers seem to agree that 

 throughout its range the favored haunts of this chickadee are the open, 

 sunny, deciduous woods, such as poplar, aspen, willow, and Cottonwood 

 groves, and that it seems to avoid the dense coniferous forests. 



Nesting. — The nesting habits of this chickadee seem to be similar to 

 those of its eastern relative. An unusually low nest was discovered by 

 Harry S. Swarth (1922) in the Stikine River region "in a tract of 

 rather open woods, mostly of small poplars. It was in a dead poplar 

 stub about three inches in diameter, a mere shell of dead and dec.ayed 

 wood, hardly strong enough to hold the tightly packed and rapidly grow- 

 ing young, who did actually break through the wall at one place. The 

 entrance hole was five inches from the base, the nest itself, flush with the 

 ground. The lining appeared to be entirely of matted moose hair." 



E. S. Cameron (1908) says that, in Montana, this chickadee sometimes 

 "nests in small deep holes of high dead pines. On June 15, 1903, a pair of 

 Chickadees were seen to be greatly excited over a strip of rag hung in a 

 pine on Cottonwood Creek, Dawson County. They hovered about it, 

 meditating an attack, but with each breath of wind the flag fluttered, and 

 frightened away the birds which returned when the wind ceased. This 

 strange behavior on their part induced me to investigate, when I found 

 their nest of wool, hair, and grass in a very small hole below the rag. 

 * * * The birds' fears were entirely allayed when I wrapped the offend- 

 ing rag around the branch." 



Lee R. Dice (1918) found nests in process of construction in south- 

 eastern Washington early in April, "in the decayed wood of orchard or 

 shade trees." He continues: 



The process of nest excavation was watched for a short time on April 

 10, 1914. The nest was being excavated in the rotten heart of a pear tree, and 

 entrance was obtained through the end of a stub about four feet from the ground. 

 The male and female took part equally in the work, ajid the labors were continued 



