PARID.E — PARIN.E: TRUE TITMICE. 267 



C. fascia'ta. (Lat. fasciata, striped ; faseis. a bundle of faggots.) Gambel's Wren-tit. 

 Adult ^ 9 : Dark brown with an olive shade ; top of head clearer and somewhat streaky ; 

 wings and tail purer brown, obscurely fasciated with numerous cross-bars; below, dull cinna- 

 mon-browu, paler on belly, shaded with olive-brown on sides and crissum; throat and breast 

 obscurely streaked with dusky; bill aud feet brown; iris white. Length about 6.00; wing 

 2.25-2.50; tail 3.25-3.50, much graduated, lateral feathers 1.00 or more shorter than middle 

 ones; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.90-1.00; middle toe aud claw 0.75. First primary nearly 1.00 

 shorter than longest one. California coast region, N. to Humboldt Bay at least. A remark- 

 able bird, resembling no other, common in shrubbery ; nest in bushes, of twigs, grasses, and 

 feathers, neither roofed over nor purse-like ; eggs 3-5, 0.70 X 0.52, plain greenish-blue. 

 C. f. hen'shawi. (To H. W. Heushaw.) Henshaw's Wuen-tit. Much lighter and duller 

 colored ; above, gi-ayish-ash, with slight olive shade (about the color of a Lop1iox)lianes) ; below, 

 scarcely rufescent upon a soiled whitish ground, shaded on sides with color of back ; bill and 

 feet smaller. Interior of California, including W. slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, from the valley 

 of the Sacramento River S. to Lower California. 



Family PARID^ : Titmice, or Chickadees. 



Ours are all small (under 7.00 long) birds, having 10 primaries, 1st much shorter than 2d; 

 wings barely or not longer than tail ; tail-feathers not stiff nor acuminate ; tarsus scutellate, 

 longer than middle toe ; anterior toes much soldered at base ; nostrils concealed by dense tufts ; 

 bill compressed, stout, straight, unnotched, and much shorter than head — characters that 

 readily marked them off from all their allies, as Wrens, Creepers, etc. They are hard to dis- 

 tinguish, technically, from Jays; but all our Jays are much over 7.00 long. 



Titmice are distributed over North America, but the crested species are rather southern, 

 and all but one of them western. Most of them are hardy birds, enduring the rigors of winter 

 without inconvenience, and consequently none are properly migratory. They are musical, after 

 a fashion of their own, chirping a quaint ditty ; are active, restless, aud very heedless of man's 

 presence; and eat everything. Some of the western species build astonishingly large pensile 

 nests, like a bottle or purse with a hole in one side, as represented in Fig. 134 ; others live in 

 knot-holes, and similar snuggeries that they usually dig out for themselves. They are very 

 prolific, laying numerous eggs, and raising more than one brood a season ; the young closely 

 resemble the" parents, and there are no obvious seasonal or sexual changes of plumage. All 

 but one of our species are plainly clad ; still they have a pleasing look, with their trim form 

 and the tasteful colors of the head. 



Subfamily PARIN/E: True Titmice. 



Exclusive of certain aberrant forms, usually allowed to constitute a separate subfomily, 

 and sometimes altogether removed from Paridce. Titmice compose a natural and pretty well 

 defined group, to which the foregoing diagnosis and remarks arc particularly applicable, and 

 agree in the following characters : Bill very short and stout, straight, compressed-conoid in 

 shape, not notclied nor with decurved tip, its under as well as upper outline convex. Rictus 

 without true bristles, but base of bill covered with antrorse tufts of bristly feathers, entirely 

 concealing nostrils. Feet stout ; tarsi distinctly scutellate, longer than middle toe ; toes rather 

 short, the anterior soldered together at base for most of the length of basal joint of middle one. 

 Hind toe with an enlarged pad beneath, forming, with consolidated bases of anterior toes, a 

 broad firm solo. Primaries 10; 1st very short or spurious, scarcely or not ^ as long as 2d; 

 wing as a whole rounded, scarcely or not longer than tail, which latter is rounded or grad- 

 uated, composed of 12 narrow soft feathers, with rounded or somewhat truncated tips. Plu- 

 mage long, soft, and loose, without bright colors or well-marked changes according to sex, 



