140 



VERTEBRATA. 



THE P. XAXTHOGENTS. 



The I', xanthogenys is a native of the iliiualaya Mountains, five and a half inches long, lias a 



full crest of black feathers, back olive, cheeks 

 yellow, sides of the chest and flanks yellow; 

 a broad black line passing down the throat; 

 is somewhat smaller than the great tit. 



Among the American species we may first no- 

 tice the Black-capped Titmouse, P. a<ma- 

 j5i7/ws, familiarly known by the name of Chick- 

 adee, from its common cry, and sometimes call- 

 ed Snow-l)ird, from its appearing about the 

 houses in fiocks upon the first flights of snow. 

 It is five and a half inches long ; the top of 

 the head and neck black ; the rest of the 

 upper parts lead-colored ; beneath yellowish- 

 white. It is a permanent resident among 

 r.s; 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 often 

 varied twitter. They are most usually seen 

 during the fall and winter, when they leave the depths of the woods and approach 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 sunflow^er seeds, and associate in parties of six, eight, or 

 more, attended by the nut-hatch, the crested titmouse, brown creeper, and small spotted wood- 

 pecker, the whole forming a very nimble and restless company, whose food, manners, and dis- 

 positions are pretty much alike. About the middle of April they begin to build, choosing the 



deserted hole of a squirrel or woodpecker, 

 and sometimes, with incredible labor, dig- 

 ging out one for themselves. The female 

 lays six white eggs, marked with minute 

 specks of red ; the first brood appear about 

 the berfinninof of June, and the second to- 

 ward the end of July ; the whole of the 

 family continue to associate together dur- 

 ing winter. They traverse the woods in 

 regular progression, from tree to tree, tum- 

 bling, chattering, and hanging from the ex- 

 tremities of the branches, examining about 

 the roots of the leaves, buds, and crevices 

 of the bark, for insects and their larvae. 

 They also frequently visit the orchards, particularly in fall, in the same pursuit, trees in such situ- 

 ations being generally much infested with insects. This species is very widely distributed through- 

 out North America. 



Tlie Carolina Tit or Carolixa Chickadee, P. Carolinensis, a little over four inches long, 

 black above and grayish beneath, and frequenting marshy situations, is found in the Southern 

 States; the Long-tailed Chickadee, P. septentrionalis, six inches long, body ashy-brown above, 

 below ashy-white, is found in Missouri and the Rocky Mountains ; the Mountain-Tit, P. monta- 

 nus, five inches long, body above cinereous, below ashy-brown, is found in California ; the Hud- 

 son Bay Tit, P. Hudsonicus, five inches long, above ashy-brown, below ashy-white, found by 



THE COMMON CHICKADtE. 



