i886.] Brewster on the Birds of Western North Carolina. 1 77 



call was sure to be one of the first sounds that came to my ears, and often 

 three or four different birds would be heard at once. They were usually 

 invisible — high in the tops of the matted evergreens, but I occasionally 

 caught sight of one hanging head downward at the end of a branch, or 

 winding up the main stem of the tree. A pair had a nest in a short dead 

 prong near the top of a yellow birch which grew near the bridle path. I 

 was unable to examine it, but it must have contained young, for both 

 parent birds repeatedly entered the hole bearing food in their bills. A 

 male shot on this mountain is indistinguishable from New England 

 specimens. 



Near Highlands, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, I found a single pair 

 of these Nuthatches in an extensive 'laurel swamp,' shaded by giant hem- 

 locks. They were undoubtedly breeding, although I did not succeed in 

 finding the nest. 



94. Parus bicolor. Tufted Titmouse. — Generally distributed from 

 the valleys to the upper edges of the hardwood forests on the mountain 

 sides, but nowhere common. 



95. Parus atricapillus. Black-capped Chickadee. — This northern 

 species, which, if I am not mistaken, has never been previously found 

 south of Virginia, proved to be not uncommon in the 'balsam' belt of the 

 Black Mountains. Its notes and habits here were precisely the same as at 

 the North, and very different from those of P. carolinensis, with which it 

 mingled along the lower borders of its range. Like most of the birds in- 

 habiting these mountains, it was exceedingly shy, so much so indeed that I 

 had the greatest difficulty in getting specimens. These represent two pairs, 

 of which both females were incubating. All four differ from northern exam- 

 ples in being smaller, with much slenderer, more acute bills, and generally 

 deeper, browner tints, especially on the back and sides, which are nearly 

 as richly colored as in autumnal specimens from New England. These 

 characteristics, if constant, should perhaps entitle the North Carolina form 

 to subspecific recognition. 



96. Parus carolinensis. Carolina Chickadee. — Common, and very 

 generally distributed, ranging from the lowlands to at least 5000 feet, and 

 probably still higher. On the Black Mountains I found it breeding spar- 

 ingly along the lower edge of the balsam belt, and thus actually mingling 

 with P. atricapillus. In one place a male of each species was singing in 

 the same tree, the low plaintive /-fwee-</ee — ts-i.vee-dee of the /*. carulinetisis, 

 contrasting sharply with the ringing te-derry of its more northern cousin. 

 The fact that the two occur here together and that each preserves its char- 

 acteristic notes and habits, should forever settle all doubts as to their 

 specific distinctness. 



A nest found June 2 at the foot of these mountains was in a shallow 

 cavity in the end of a fence rail by the roadside. It contained six young, 

 fully fledged and apparently large enough to fly. They made a pretty 

 picture — the circle of black and white heads peering out curiously at the 

 entrance. 



97. Regulus satrapa. Golden-crested Kinglet. — Throughout the 

 soinbre balsam forest on the upper slopes and ridges of the Black Moun- 



