GKNUS 45. PARUS. TITMOUSE. 



SPECIES 1. P. ATRICAPILLUS. 



BLACK-CAPT TITMOUSE. 



[Plate VIII. Fig. 4.] 



Paras atricapillus, LINN. Syst. i, 341, 6. GMEL. Syst. i, 1008. 

 La JWesange a tete noire de Canada, BUFFON, v, 408. Canada 

 Titmouse, Jirct. Zuol. n, No. 328. LATH. Syn. iv, 542, 9. 

 PEACE'S Museum, JVo. 7380. 



THIS is one of our resident birds, active, noisy and restless, 

 hardy beyond any of his size, braving the severest cold of our 

 continent as far north as the country round Hudson's Bay, and 

 always appearing most lively in the coldest weather. The males 

 have a variety of very sprightly notes, which cannot indeed be 

 called a song, but rather a lively, frequently repeated, and of- 

 ten varied twitter. They are most usually seen during the fall 

 and winter, when they leave the depth of the woods, and ap- 

 proach nearer to the scenes of cultivation. At such seasons they 

 abound among evergreens, feeding on the seeds of the pine tree; 

 they are also fond of sun-flower seeds, and associate in parties 

 of six, eight, or more, attended by the two species of Nuthatch 

 already described, the Crested Titmouse, Brown Creeper, and 

 small Spotted Woodpecker; the whole forming a very nimble 

 and restless company, whose food, manners and dispositions 

 are pretty much alike. About the middle of April they begin 

 to build, choosing the deserted hole of a squirrel or Woodpeck- 

 er, and sometimes with incredible labour digging out one for 

 themselves. The female lays six white eggs, marked with min- 

 ute specks of red; the first brood appears about the beginning 

 of June, and the second towards the end of July; the whole of 



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