NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 419 



Spotted and blotched with cinnamon-rufous. They cannot be distin- 

 guished from the eggs of P. atricapillus or carolinensis ^ and vary in as 

 great a degree, both in size and coloration, as eggs of the same species 

 are found to differ. The sizes of the five eggs just mentioned are 

 .56 X .43, .61 X .47, .62 X .50, .63 X .47, .63 X .50. 



This plumbeous colored Chickadee is very likely the prevailing 

 form of Texas. 



738. Parus gambeli Ridgw. [40.] 



Mountain Chickadee. 



Hab. Mountainous regions of Western United States. 



The Mountain Chickadee inhabits the mountainous resfions of 

 Western United States, chiefly the alpine districts. It nests in old 

 Woodpeckers' excavations and natural cavities of trees and stumps, 

 from two to twenty feet above the ground. Fibrous roots, grasses, 

 sheep's wool, cattle's hair, or fur of the smaller quadrupeds constitute 

 the materials of the nest ; these will vary with the locality. A nest of 

 this bird was found in a rotten stump, two feet from the ground, by 

 Mr. L. Belding, near Marysville, California, containing seven white 

 eggs. * Dr. Brewer describes a nest which was discovered by Mr. 

 Charles A. Allen, June 11, 1879, in the mountains of Placer county, Cali- 

 fornia. It was constructed in an old hole of the White-headed Wood- 

 pecker, Xenopicus albolarvatus^ and contained seven eggs, six of which 

 were pure white, unspotted, and the seventh marked over the entire sur- 

 face with dots of reddish-brown, f Dr. James C. Merrill found a nest of 

 this species in Montana, on June 18. It was in a cavity of a pine, 

 about sixteen feet above the ground, and contained five or six young 

 and one addled &<g%^ which was dull, unspotted, chalky-white. t Dr. 

 Elliott Coues makes note of two white unmarked eggs of this species, 

 taken by William G. Smith, in Colorado. § Dr. Merrill says that this 

 species is perhaps the most common resident species at Fort Klamath, 

 Oregon, and in winter seldom out of sight or hearing. Between May 

 25 and July 4 five nests containing eggs were discovered in Wood- 

 peckers' holes in aspen or pine stubs. 



The eggs were five to eight in number, and of the five sets two are 

 entirely unspotted ; in two, one or two eggs are pure white, the others 

 having faint, light brown spots, mostly at the larger end ; in the other 

 set two of the eggs are quite unmarked, but the others have distinct 

 reddish spots. He states that the female birds sit very close, and when 

 disturbed keep up a constant hissing, so much like that of some snakes 



* Cf. Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, III, 102-103. 



t lb. V, 47. 



X lb. VI, 204-205. 



I lb. VIII, 240. 



