114 CHARACTERS, ETC., OF LOPHOPHANES INORNATUS 



Plain Titmouse 



Loplioptianes iiiornatus 



Parus inornatUS, Gamb. Pr. Phila. Acad. ii. 1845, 265; iii. 1846, 154 ; Journ. Phila. Acad. 2d 

 ger. i. 1847, 35, pi. 8, f. 2 (California). 



Loptiophanes inornatUS, Bd. Stansb. Rep. GSL. 1852, 332. Cass. 111. 1853, 19. Heerm. 

 Journ. Phila. Acad. ii. 1853, 263. Woodk. Sitgr. Rep. Zuui R. 1853, 69. Bd. BNA. 1858, 

 386. Xant. Pr. Phila. Acad. xi. 1859, 191 (California). Heerm. PRRR. x. 1859, 42. Scl. 

 CAB. 1861, 14. Bd. RAB. 1864, 78. Coties, Pr. Phila. Acad. xviii. 1866, 79 (Fort Whip- 

 pie). Elliot, BNA. pi. 3. Coop. B. Cal. i. 1870, 42, 6g.Aiken, Pr. Boat. Soc. xv. 

 1872, 195 (Colorado). Coues, Key, 1872, 80, f. W.Ridg. Bull. Ess. Inst. v. 1873, 179 

 (Colorado). 5. B. <V R. NAB. i. 1874, 91, pi. 6, f. 3. Coues, BNW. 1874, 20. Coop. Am. 

 Nat. viii. 1874, 17. Yarr. tfHensh. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, l.Hensh. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 

 40, 99.-7VeZs.Pr.Bost. Soc. xvii. 1875, 356. Hensh. Zool. Expl. W. 10U Merid. 1876, 167. 



Tophophanes inonuUiis. Bd. Ives's Rep. Colorado R. pt. vi. 1861, 6. 



Plain Titmouse, Gray-tufted Titmouse, California Titmouse, Vulg. 



HAB. United States, from Western Texas and Colorado to the Pacific. 

 CH. SP. $ 9 Olivaceo cinereus, fronte concolore; infra cinereo- 

 albus, lateribus concoloribus ; rostro pedibusque plumbeis. 



Adults: Entire upper parts dull leaden-gray, with a slight olive shade; 

 the wings and tail rather purer and darker. Below, dull ashy- whitish, with- 

 out any rusty wash on the sides. No black on the head. Extreme forehead 

 and sides of the head obscurely speckled with whitish. No decided mark- 

 ings anywhere. In size rather less than L. bicolor; length usually under 

 six inches, &c. 



The young are quite like the adults. These closely resemble the young of 

 L. bicolor ; but in the latter there are traces at least of the reddish of the 

 sides or black of the frontlet, or both ; the general coloration is purer, with 

 more distinction between the upper and under parts, and the size is rather 

 greater. The peculiar speckled appearance of the sides of the head ami 

 lores of L. inornatus is not observed in L. bicolor. 



THROUGHOUT the Colorado Basin, the familiar Tufted Tit- 

 mouse of the Eastern States is replaced by the " plaiu " 

 species, well named " inornatus" a peculiarly sordid bird, the 

 dull monotony of whose plumage is unrelieved by a single touch 

 of color. It inhabits not only a portion of Western Texas, the 

 whole of New Mexico, Arizona, and corresponding latitudes in 

 California, but also portions of Colorado, Utah and Nevada. 

 How far north it extends is not precisely ascertained ; but we 

 may suppose it to be distributed at least half-way across the 

 three last-named Territories, which lie in a tier together. Its 

 southern extreme, similarly, is uncertain ; but, wherever the 

 " ragged edge " of its habitat may run, the watershed of the 

 great Colorado of the West is its home, and there it resides 

 continually. 



It is another discovery which the lamented Gambel made in 

 California, where he first found it, in November, near Monte- 

 rey, among the evergreen oaks of that vicinity. Since his 



