380 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



tinguish these sounds from any that the Black-capped Chickadee ever produces. 

 The voice of the Hudsonian Titmouse, moreover, is usually harsh and incisive 

 — so much so in fact as to suggest that the bird must be afflicted by chronic 

 ill temper. 



Of course I do not question the evidence furnished by the writers just 

 quoted, but I certainly find it difficult to believe that the notes they have de- 

 scribed can be often uttered by the Hudsonian Chickadee. If they be really a 

 part of its regular repertoire and, above all, if they represent its characteristic 

 song, I am quite at a loss to understand why I have never heard them, especiall)' 

 in the months of May and June, when I have spent weeks at a time camping in 

 places where breeding birds were seen almost daily. 



The following records, although extralimital, relate to localities so near the 

 Cambridge Region that it seems worth while to mention them here : — 



Brookline, 1839 "^r prior. Peabody's ' Report on the Ornithology of Massachu- 

 setts,' published in 1839, contains the following statement: "The Hudson Bay 

 Titmouse, Fariis Hmisonicus, which has been hitherto unknown in Massachusetts, 

 has been found by S. Eliot Greene, Esq. near his house in Brookline." ' 



Concord, October 30, 1870. On this date I siiot a Hudsonian Cliickadee in 

 mixed pine and oak woods near Nine-Acre Corner. It was in company with three 

 Golden-crested Kinglets. The specimen is preserved in my collection. It was origin- 

 ally recorded in the ' American Naturalist ' (VI, 1873, 306). 



Concord, October 7, 1880. A bird seen this morning was feeding in company 

 with several species of Warblers among some gray birches on a knoll about a mile 

 to the eastward of the town center of Concord. I had a good view of it, besides 

 hearing its characteristic notes. "^ 



Concord and Bedford, October 31, 1896. On this date Mr. William B. Bartlett 

 and I found a Hudsonian Chickadee on a meadow ' island ' covered with birches near 

 the banks of Concord River, about half a mile below Ball's Hill. It was quite 

 alone, and very restless, moving quickly on through the trees and finally taking a long 

 flight across the river and its bordering meadows to the Bedford shore, thus establish- 

 ing a record for two towns in less than as many minutes. 



Carlisle, October 21, 1892. While hunting Woodcock in some gray birch covers 

 near the Carlisle cemetery, I heard, many times in succession and with perfect dis- 

 tinctness, the peculiar harsh call-notes of a Hudsonian Chickadee. Although I failed 

 to see the bird, or at least to distinguish it among the dozen or more Black-capped 

 Titmice which were flitting about among the bushes, the evidence of its near presence 

 furnished by its unmistakable voice was, to my mind, quite conclusive. 



Wellesley, October 30, 1880. I have examined the skin of a bird which was 

 taken at the above date and locality- by Mr. Sherman F. Denton. 



The three instances of occurrence last mentioned have not been previously pub- 

 lished. 



1 W. B. O. Peabody, Storer and Peabody, Reports on the Fishes, Reptiles and Birds of Massa- 

 chusetts, 1839, 402. 



2 W. Brewster, MuUetin of the Niittall Ornithological Club, VI, iSSi, 54. 



