110 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Xuttall first observed their arrival on the banks of the Wahlamet Eiver 

 about the middle of ^lay. Tliey were very industriously engaged in quest 

 of insects, and were by no means shy, but kept always in the low bushes in 

 the skirts of the woods. On one occasion the male bird was so solicitous in 

 regard to the safety of the nest as to attract him to the place where, sus- 

 pended from a low bush, about four feet from the ground, hung their curious 

 liome. It was formed like a long pui-se, with a round hole for entrance near 

 tlie top, and made of moss, down, lint of plants, and lined with feathers. 

 The eggs were six in number, pure white, and already far gone toward hatch- 

 ing. In the following June, in a dark wood near Fort Vancouver, he saw 

 a Hock of about twelve, which, by imitating their chirping, he was able to 

 call around him, and which kept up an incessant and querulous chirping. 



A nest of this bird presented by ^Ir. Xuttall to Audubon was cylindrical in 

 form, nine inches in length and three and a half in diameter. It was sus- 

 pended from tlie fork of a small twig, and was composed externally of hypnum, 

 lichens, and fibrous roots so interwoven as to present a smooth surface, with 

 a few stems of grasses and feathers intermingled. The aperture was at the 

 top, and did not exceed seven eighths of an inch in diameter. The diameter 

 of the internal j)assage for two thirds of its length was two inches. Tliis 

 was lined with the cottony down of willows and a vast quantity of soft 

 feathers. The eggs were nine in number, pure white, .56 of an inch by .44 

 in their measurement. 



Dr. Cooper found them throughout the year near San Francisco. He 

 found one of their nests at San Diego as early as the first of March. The 

 nest is so large, compared with the size of the birds, as to suggest the idea 

 that the flock unite to build it. He gives the measurements as eight inches 

 in length and three in diameter, outside ; the cavity five inches long, one 

 and a half in diameter. It was cylindrical, and suspended by one end from 

 a low branch. 



When one of these birds is killed. Dr. Cooper says that the others come 

 round it with great show of anxiety, and call plaintively until they find it 

 will not follow them, becoming so fearless as almost to allow of their being 

 taken by the hand. 



Fsaltriparus minimus, var. plumbeus, Baird. 



LEAO-COLOSED BVSH-TITMOUBE. 



Psaltria plumbca^ Baird, Pr. A. N. S. VII, June, 1854, 118 (Little Colorailo). Psaltrij>nrus 

 phnnheufi, Baiiid, Birds N. Am. 1858, 398, j)l. xxxiii, tig. 2 ; Review, 84. — Sclater, 

 Catal. 1861, 398, no. 77. — Cooper, Birds Cal. I, 49. 



Sp. Char. Tail long, feathers graduated. Above rather light olivaceous-cinereous. 

 Top of head rather clearer : forehead, chin, and sides of head, pale smoky-brown. Be- 

 neath brownish-white, scarcely darker on the sides. Length about 4.20 inches ; wing, 

 2.15 ; tail, 2.50. 



