TITMICE AND BUSH-TITS: Family Paridae [433] 



in 1877 (Bendire 1877) stated that it was a common winter bird. Peck 

 (191 la) found it in northern Malheur County, and Walker (191713) listed 

 it from the mouth of the Deschutes as well as at Maupin and Warm 

 Springs. These notes were partly based on a collecting trip into the 

 district with Jewett, who took specimens at Maupin and Warm Springs 

 that are now in the Biological Survey collection. In addition to numerous 

 skins from the eastern part of the State in this collection, there is one 

 from The Dalles, taken by W. K. Fisher, July 2., 1897, that is the farthest 

 west specimen we have seen. 



The birds along the eastern base of the Cascades, along the Deschutes 

 River, and from north-central Oregon generally are very puzzling. Ober- 

 holser in a letter regarding them said: 



These birds are certainly not Penthestes a. septentrionalis as can be seen at a glance when a 

 series of typical birds of the latter is compared with them. They are nearer as a whole to 

 the coast bird, P. a. occidentalis, than they are to septentrionalis but they are of course, almost 

 exactly intermediate between the two. They are in fact so nearly identical with P. a. atri- 

 capillus from eastern North America that Mr. Ridgway has referred them to this form. . . . 

 If this is not done they must of course be referred either to P. a. septentrionalis or P. a. occi- 

 dentalis. If this disposition of them however is followed, they are certainly much nearer, 

 both in size and color to the coast bird than they are to the bird of the interior, and I should 

 call them P. a. occidentalis with this explanation. 



It is quite evident that we have again an area of intergradation which 

 makes for confusion. Birds from the Blue Mountains and southeastern 

 Oregon are much more like the Long-tailed Chickadee, whereas the in- 

 tervening territory presents a series of intermediates that cannot be satis- 

 factorily identified under the present recognized dividing lines. 



Oregon Chickadee: 



Penthestes atricapillus occidentalis (Baird) 



DESCRIPTION. Top of head and back of neck glossy jet black, back dark gray , tinged 

 with olive brown; sides of head clear white, in sharp contrast to black of head and 

 throat; median under parts white, contrasting with tawny-brown sides. Si^t: 

 Length 4.50-5.2.5, wing 1.35-1.60, tail 1.30- 2.. 55. (Bailey) Eggs: 4 to 9, white, 

 spotted with brown and lilac, mostly about the larger end. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southwestern British Columbia to northern 

 California west of Cascades. In Oregon: Permanent resident and breeding species 

 from western foothills of Cascades to Pacific, most abundant in interior valleys such 

 as Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue. 



SUCKLEY (Cooper and Suckley 1860) found the small, dark-colored Oregon 

 Chickadee (Plate 76) to be a common bird in the Willamette Valley, and 

 every subsequent writer has accorded it the same status in that territory. 

 Jewett (i9i6b) first recorded it from the coast as a resident of Tillamook 

 County, and Gabrielson (1931) reported it as a common species in the 

 Rogue River Valley. Although it is less common on the coast than in 



