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PARIDZ, TITMICE, OR CHICKADEES.—GEN. 11. Us, 
Black-headed Gnatcaicher. @ bluish-ash, with whole crown black. ¢ 
with crown like back; outer tail feather white-edged only. Southwest 
United States. Cass., Ill., 164, pl. 27; Bp., 882; Coopr., 31. MELANURA. 
Plumbeous Gnatcatcher. Duller 
leaden gray; crown like back; a 
white, and also a black (latter not | 
in 2) superciliary line; whole outer @ // 
web of outer tail feather, and its tip 
for some distance, white. Arizona. 
Bp., 382; Coor., 37. . PLUMBEA. 
Family Ce par cena Wren- 
its. 
Recently framed for a single species, 
7 : . . 2 Fic. 20. Under fig., blue-gray gnatcatcher; upper 
much like a titmouse in general appear- fig. black-headed gnatcatcher; ¢, tail of the same; d, 
. . tail of mbeous gnatea ane f natural size. 
ance, but with the tarsus not evidently ail of plumbeous gnatcatcher; all of natural size 
scutellate in front; rounded wings much shorter than the graduated tail; lores 
bristly, and plumage extraordinarily soft and lax. With the general habits of 
wrens, with which the species was formerly associated. 
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ll. Genus CHAMAIA Gambel. 
Fasciated Tit, or Ground Wren. Dull grayish or olivaceous-brown, 
below paler and more fulvous; throat and breast streaked with darker; 
wings and tail brown, obscurely waved with dusky; whitish ring round 
eye; iris white. 54-6; wing only 24-24, tail 84; the graduation an inch. 
Coast region of California. A curious bird, with no special resemblance to 
any other species. Cass., Ill., 36, pl. 7; Bp., 370; Coop., 39. Fascrara. 
Family PARIDA. Titmice, or Chickadees. 
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Ours are all small (under 7 in. long) birds, at once distinguished by having 10 
primaries, the 1st much shorter than the 2d; wings barely or not longer than the 
tail; tail-feathers not stiff nor acuminate; tarsi scutellate, longer than the middle 
toe, anterior toes much soldered at base; nostrils concealed by dense tufts, and 
bill compressed, stout, straight, unnotched and much shorter than the head; charac- 
ters that readily marked them off from all their allies, as wrens, creepers, etc. 
Really, they are hard to distinguish, technically, from jays; but all our jays are 
much over 7 inches long. 
They are distributed over North America, but the crested species are rather 
southern, and all but one of them western. Most of them are hardy birds, endur- 
ing the rigors of winter without inconvenience, and as a consequence, none of 
them are properly migratory. They are musical, after a fashion of their own, 
chirping a quaint ditty ; are active, restless, and very heedless of man’s presence ; 
and eat everything. Some of the western species build astonishingly large and 
curiously shaped nests, pensile, like a bottle or purse with a hole in one side; 
others live in knotholes, and similar snuggeries that they are said to dig out for 
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_ themselves. They are very prolific, laying numerous eggs, and raising more than 
one brood a season; the young closely resemble the parents, and there are no 
