PSALTKIPAKUS MINIMUS— P. PLUMBEUS. 413 



PSALTRIPABUS MLNIMDS. 



Least Titmouse. 



Parus minimus, Townsend, Jourii. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1837, 190. 

 Psaltriparus minimus, BONAP., Comp. Rend., 1854, 02.— Baikd, B. N. Am., 1858, 

 397 ; Cat. N. Am. B., 1859, No. 298; Review, 1864,84.— CoOPEE, Om. Cal., 

 48.— COUES, Key, 1872, 82; Check List, 1873, No. 35. 

 Psaltriparus minimus var. minimus, B. B. & R., Hist. N. Ain. B., I, 1874, 109, pi. 



VII, flg. 9. 

 Of this delicate little bird we had but a mere glimpse, while passing 

 throu"-h the western foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada. It was there seen in 

 small straggling companies, among the brushwood of the ravines, appearing 

 much like the P. plumbea of the Interior in its manners and notes. 



Psaltriparus plumbeus. 



Lead-colored Titmoase. 



Psaltria plumbea, Baird, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1854, 118. 



Psaltriparus plumbeus, Baird, B. N.Am., 1858, 398; Cat. N. Am. B., 1859, No. 



299; Review, lS(i4, 79.— Cooper, Orii. Cal., 49.— CouES, Key, 1872, 82; 



Chexjk List, 1873, No. 36 ; B. N.W., 1874, 23. 

 Psaltriparus minimus var. plumbeus, B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B., I, 1874, 110, pi. 



VII, fig. 10.— llENSHAW, 1875, 171. 



Of late years, the known range of this species has been greatly extended 

 by the more recent field-observations of the Government surveys. It was 

 at first supposed to be one of those birds characteristic of the southwestern 

 portion of the country, but it is now known to have a range co-extensive 

 with the Middle Province, having been obtained by the naturalists of Dr. 

 Hayden's survey as far to the northeastward as Green River and Bitter 

 Creek, Wyoming Territory, while Captain Charles Bendire, U. S. A., found 

 it a winter resident at Camp Harney, in eastern Oregon. How nuu-li 

 farther northward it may extend is not known, but its range in that 

 direction is probably limited by the Columbia Valley. We met with this 

 species on several occasions from the very base of the Sierra Nevada 

 eastward to the Wahsatch Mountains, but the localities where it occurred 

 in abundance were few and remote from each other, while its habits aro so 

 erratic that it was seldom met with twice at one place. In the cafions of 



