NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 417 



cavities in trees, decayed stumps, hollow fence posts, etc. These 

 places are filled with a mass of leaves, moss, dry grasses and warmly 

 lined with downy feathers, hair from cattle, and often the fur of the 

 smaller quadrupeds. 



The eggs are five to eight in number, white, speckled all over, 

 but most thickly at or around the larger ends with light reddish-brown. 

 The average size is .57 x .47. 



Of this species Wilson says : "They traverse the woods in regu- 

 lar progression from tree to tree, tumbling, chattering and hanging from 

 the extremities of the branches, examining about the roots of the leaves, 

 buds, and crevices of the bark for insects and their larvae. They also 

 frequently visit the orchards, particularly in fall, the sides of the barn 

 and barn-yard in the same pursuit, trees in such situations being gen- 

 erally much infested with insects. We, therefore, with pleasure, rank 

 this little bird among the farmers' friends, and trust our rural citizens 

 will always recognize him as such."* 



735#. Parus atrieapillus septentrionalis (HARRIS.) [410.] 



Long-tailed Chickadee. 



Hab. Rocky Mountain district (New Mexico to Alaska), west to the edge of the Great Basin, east 

 nearly across the Plains. 



This is the Western form of P. atrieapillus^ and identical with it 

 in general habits. It is found as far east as Missouri, Eastern Nebraska, 

 and Western Minnesota along the Red River, thus slightly overlapping 

 the home of P. atrieapillus proper. Dr. Agersborg states that it is 

 the only Chickadee found in Southeastern Dakota, and Colonel Goss 

 says it is common in Western Kansas. In the South it has been found 

 in Texas, where it was found mixed with the Southern Chickadee. 

 Prof. Lantz took a fine set of seven eggs April 17, at Manhattan, Kan- 

 sas, and the next day a set of the eggs of the Eastern fortn.t The 

 eggs of the Long-tailed Chickadee are dull white, and very uniformly 

 speckled with reddish-brown ; their average size is .60 x .47. 



735. Parus atrieapillus occidentalis (BAIRD) [41^.] 



Oregon Chickadee. 



Hab. Northwestern coast district of United States, from Northern California northward (to Southern 

 Alaska?). 



A common bird along the coast region of Northern California, 

 Oregon and Washington Territory, possessing all the habits of the 

 Eastern atrieapillus^ and nesting in a like manner. 



The eggs of the two birds are indistinguishable. Mr. Norris has 



* American Ornithology or the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Illustrated with 

 Plates engraved from drawings from Nature. By Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucian Bonaparte. Popu- 

 lar edition. Four volumes in one. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. Vol. II, p. 214. 



fC/. Report on Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley in the years 1884 and 1885, by W. W. Cooke. 

 Edited and revised by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Washington. Government Printing Office. 1888. P. 278. 



28 



