BIRDS—-PARIDAE—PARUS. 387 
black frontal band, too, have a few of these short, pale, ashy white tips. The posterior elongated 
feathers of the crown and the short feathers of the occiput are black. The lateral feathers 
behind, however, are white, in continuation of the streak over the eye. In most specimens the 
black crescentic line behind the eye is much broken by white. There does not appear to be 
any rusty tinge on the sides, as in L. bicolor, 
The black post-auricular crescent is bordered behind by white, running into a whitish collar 
just behind the black of the throat. The nape below the crest is black, this dividing and 
passing around the upper half of the neck as a half collar posterior to the white. 
The bill is very short and conical. The second primary quill is longer than the secondaries ; 
the third is intermediate between the eighth and ninth, 
The upper parts are of much the same tinge of olivaceous as in L. inornatus. 
The young birds differ in having the black less intense, especially on the throat. 
Poor specimens have a slight resemblance to Parus montanus. This, however, lacks the 
crest ; the forehead is white, not black ; the middle of the crown is black, not ash colored ; the 
white of the cheeks is not bordered behind by a black crescent, connecting the stripe behind the 
eye with the throat. 
This species is much more like the European L. cristatus than any other American titmouse. 
It differs in the much stouter bill, absence of rufous on the sides, more black on the throat, the 
feathers of the crown ash, like the back, instead of being black, edged with whitish. The 
black crescent behind the eye runs into the black of the throat, instead of stopping in the white 
cheeks. The posterior cervical half collar of black is cut off from that of the throat, instead of 
being continuous with it. The resemblance of the two species would be much strengthened if 
the posterior black collar were made to run into the neck, and the crescent on the cheeks inter- 
rupted below. 
Cabanis, in Mus. Heineanum, places this species in the same genus with the typical L. 
cristatus, and separates the L. bicolor, as type of a new genus, on account of the stouter bill, 
difference in character of crest, longer wings, &c. The other American crested titmice, how- 
ever, exhibit a very gentle gradation between the two, while the bill of L. wollweberi is even 
stouter in proportion than in ZL. bicolor, 
List of specimens. 
Catal. Sex. | Locality. |When collected. Whence obtained. | Orig. | Collected by— | Length. | Stretch , Wing. 
No. | | No. | of winee.| 
6794 | O | Coppemminess= 2-2 2-leas- scot cane Col. Graham . -| 8 | J. H. Clark..--- | 5. 00 8.00 | 2.50 
CEE TSE ae eee ope not lca sek cate doe cites. 4 Semel Rapeeee mee aaa leone te |peeeeoc ae 
6797 |.---| Mimbres to R. Grande}s-2n-a——---——— Dri Henny sees shoes soa ae nena | Bey poeta eee 
6795 |.-..| Pueblo creek, N.M-.| Jan. 22, 1854 Lt. Whipple ----)| 50 Kenn and: Mollie |Z osacose|eo eae aee aoe ame 
722 MexicOneer fae sa a(t ences acces Bee) 11 Cs Cyne ee a Be a eee esa piesa el beers 
PARUS, Linnaeus. 
Parus, Linnarvs, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Agassiz.) Type P. major. 
Cu.—Head not crested. Body and head stout. Tail moderately long, and slightly rounded. Bull conical, not very stout ; 
the upper and under outlines very gently and slightly convex. Tarsus but little longer than wmiddle toe. Crown and throat 
generally black. 
