PARID.E — THE TITMICE. 99 



their penetrating bill, and no eggs so well hidden that they cannot find them 

 out. I have known one to attack and fly off with the chrysalis of a " Woolly- 

 hear" or salt-marsh caterpillar {Leucarctia acrcea). When thus foraging for 

 their food they seem totally unconscious of the near presence of man, and 

 unmindful of what is passing around tliem, so intent are they upon the 

 object of their pursuit. 



The notes of the Chickadee exhibit a great variety of sounds and combi- 

 nations. As they roam through the country in small flocks in quest of food, 

 tlieir refrain is a continued and lively succession of varying notes sounding- 

 like a quaint chant. When annoyed by any intrusion, their cry is louder 

 and harsher. Tliey are rarely thus disturbed by the presence of man, and 

 even when their nest is approached by liim they present only a passive and 

 silent resistance. Not so when a cat or a squirrel is observed in unwelcome 

 vicinity. These are pursued with great and noisy pertinacity and hoarse 

 cries of day, day, day, in which they are often joined by others of tlie same 

 species. 



So far as we have observed them, they are apparently affectionate,, gentle, 

 and loving to each other. We utterly discredit the accusation that they 

 will treacherously beat out the brains of feeble birds of their own race. It 

 is unsupported by testimony, and in the instance cited by Wilson he gives 

 no evidence that this injury may not have been done by some other species, 

 and not by one of its own kindred. 



Their nest is usually near the ground, and the number of eggs rarely 

 if ever exceeds eight. They are said to have two broods in the season, 

 but tliis statement seems to be contradicted by their continued presence 

 after June in small flocks, evidently the parents and their first and only 

 brood, who apparently remain together nine or ten months. 



The eggs of this species vary somewhat in regard to the distribution and 

 number of the reddish-brown markings witli which their white ground is 

 more or less sprinkled. In some they are chiefly gathered in a ring about 

 the larger end ; in others they are distributed over the entire egg. Their 

 eggs are smaller and a little less spherical in shape than those of the septen- 

 trionalis, averaging .58 by .47 of an inch. 



Parus atricapillus, var. septentrionalis, Hareis. 



LONG-TAILED CHICKADEE. 



Parus scptcntrioimUs, Harris, Pr. A. N. Sc. H, 1845, 300. — Cassin, Illust. I, 1853, 17, 

 80, pi. xiv. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 389 ; Review, 79. — Sclater, Catal. 1861, 

 14, no. 82. Parus septentrioiuilis, var. albescens, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, xxxvii. 

 f Parus atricapillus, Pk. Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 119. 



Sp. Char. Length about 5.50 inches; wing, 2.70; tail about 3 inches. Head above 

 and below black, separated by white on the .sides of the head ; back brownish -ash. Be- 



