1921 BIRDS OF MONTANA 



161 



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the breast of the bird was blackened by living in burned timber. There are no 

 burned timber areas near Bozeman at low enough elevations to be in the breeding 

 area of scptentrionalis, and so far as my experience goes, this latter form breeds 

 only in cottonwoods and willows that are not subject to forest fire, while the 

 bird of northwestern jMontana frequently breeds in evergreen timber, where 

 l)urned areas are common. 



314. Penthestes atricapillus septentrionalis Harris 



Long-tailed Chickadee 



An abundant permanent resident through all of the state except the north- 

 western portion, where birds referable to typical atricapillus breed. Breeds in 

 Transition and probably in the Upper Sonoran zone, in cottonwood groves, wil- 

 low thickets, and, where such areas exist, in yellow pines of the mountain foot- 

 hills and of the eastern pine hills. Found mainly in the prairie region and 

 mountain valleys, but also in mountain canyons, where the proper habitat exists, 

 up to the limit of the Transition zone. All observers report this species as com- 

 mon. 



There is but one record of the taking of the eggs, ten fresh eggs having l)een 

 secured July 28, 1918, near Billings (Thomas, MS). Birds were seen nest-building 

 in the Bitterroot Valley, ^lay 12, 1911 (Bailey, MS). I have seen young out of 

 the nest in Jefferson County, June 29, 1910. The western limits of the range of 

 tnis subspecies in the state are formed by the foothills .just east of the continental 

 divide in Teton County. It ranges south to the Northern Pacific Railroad, then 

 west across the divide, roughly, by following the line of the railroad ; then, either 

 westward to the western border of the state through Missoula, or else south to 

 exclude the Bitterroot Valley, and then west to the western border. 



315. Penthestes gambeli gambeli (Ridgway) 



Mountain Chick^vdee 



A common permanent resident of the mountains in the western half of the 

 state. Breeds in the Canadian and Hudsonian zones in fir or pine timber. 

 All observers in mountainous regions report this species. The eastern limits of 

 its range are found in the mountains of Teton County (Saunders, 1914a, p. 143) 

 and of Fergus County (Silloway, 1908a, p. 68), and in the Big Horn JMountains 

 (McChesney, 1879, p. 2385). West of the continental divide, in the northwest- 

 ern part of the state, records of occurrence are comparatively few, not, I be- 

 lieve, because the species is rare, but mainly because most observations in the 

 mountains of that region are confined to the Transition zone, and observations 

 in the Canadian and Hudsonian zones are comparatively few. 



In spring and fall this species is sometimes found in the mountain valleys 

 in company with the Long-tailed Chickadee. This is a common occurrence in the 

 Gallatin Valley. Dates of observation in the Gallatin Valley are as follows: 

 Bozeman, October 2, 1908, October 16, 1910, and March 18, 1911; Spring Hill, 

 October 8, 1908. This movement down to the valleys constitutes the only indi- 

 cation of a migration on the part of this species. 



