ON .THE .POSELMON, OF .€CRAIL7 A AN THE 
SYSTEM. 
R. W. SHUFELDT. 
THERE are two species of Chama in the United States avi- 
fauna, — the C. fasczata, which is confined to the coast region of 
California, and C. f. henshawt, a variety of the latter which 
ranges through the “ interior of California, including the western 
slope of the Sierra Nevada.” Ornithologists have bestowed the 
name of the Wren-Tit upon the first-mentioned of these, while 
the second one is referred to as the Pallid Wren-Tit. In the 
absence of any detailed and published account of the structure 
of Cham@a, made comparative with its supposed affines, one 
would naturally be led to believe, from these names, that the 
systematists regard these birds as Tits with a tincture of Wren 
in them ; and such, I understand, is generally the case, or other- 
wise they would certainly have been designated as Tit-Wrens. 
Several dissenters from this opinion are, however, known to me, 
and chief among these I would allude to Mr. Robert Ridgway, 
Mr. I. A, Lucas, and Mr. J..A. Allenay in conversation with 
Mr. Ridgway on the subject, although he seemed to be dis- 
inclined to advance any decided opinion in the premises, he left 
the impression upon my mind that he regarded Chame@a more as 
a Wren than a Tit, and very kindly allowed me to examine skins 
of both groups in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Among these he was so good as to point out and invite my 
attention to the external characters in such forms as Czznicer- 
thia untbrunnea and Cinuticerthia unirufa, the first being a spe- 
cies from Ecuador, and the latter from Colombia. He remarked 
that, in his opinion, these birds were Wrens, and I was struck 
with their general: external resemblance to Chamc@a, more 
especially in the case of wxzrufa, which, if I remember, was the 
species with the longer tail. Both, however, were, upon the 
whole, unitinted ; their heads tufti-crested; a tendency in one 
for the tarsal scutella to become obsolete ; and in the case with 
