CRESTED TITMOUSE. 405 



the southern parts of Greenland, where it is called Jivingarsak. 

 If so, it probably inhabits the continent of North America, from 

 sea to sea. 



The Crested Titmouse is six inches long, and seven inches 

 and a half in extent; the whole upper parts a dull cinereous, or 

 lead colour, except the front, which is black, tinged with red- 

 dish ; whole lower parts dirty white, except the sides under the 

 wings, which are reddish orange; legs and feet light blue; bill 

 black, short and pretty strong; wing feathers relieved with dus- 

 ky on their inner vanes; eye dark hazel; lores white; the head 

 elegantly ornamented with a high, pointed, almost upright crest; 

 tail a little forked, considerably concave below, and of the same 

 colour above as the back; tips of the wings dusky; tongue very 

 short, truncate, and ending in three or four sharp points. The 

 female cannot be distinguished from the male by her plumage, 

 unless in its being something duller, for both are equally marked 

 with reddish orange on the sides under the wings, which some 

 foreigners have made the distinguishing mark of the male alone. 



The nest is built in a hollow tree, the cavity often dug by it- 

 self; the female begins to lay early in May; the eggs are usu- 

 ally six, pure white, with a few very small specks of red near 

 the great end. The whole family, in the month of July, hunt 

 together, the parents keeping up a continual chatter, as if har- 

 anguing and directing their inexperienced brood. 



