BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 427 
loosely disposed, but with considerable claims to nesting in- 
genuity. There are four or five pearly-white eggs, with occa- 
sional touches of ding y-greenish at the larger end.” 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill pointed, subulate, compressed, stout, about as long as 
head; culmen and ,commissure nearly straight; nostrils cov- 
ered by a tuft of bristles directed forwards; tarsi stout, tail 
very short, broad and nearly even; wings reaching nearly to 
the end of the tail. Above ashy blue; top of head black; a 
white line above, and a black one through the eye; chin, white 
rest of under parts brownish rusty. 
Length, 4.50; wing, 2;65; tail, 0.85. 
Habitat, North America at large. 
PARUS BICOLOR (L.). (731.) 
TUFTED TITMOUSE. 
This is rather a rare species in Minnesota. Only occasion- 
ally obtained, and then only in the extreme southern counties, 
but at such times as they are presumably breeding. I place 
them in my records on the assurances of Mr. Lewis who ob- 
tained the skin and four eggs from a lad in Nobles county. 
I knew the bird very well in his established haunts, and 
have seen persons who have collected them occasionally in the 
vicinity of Cedar Falls, Iowa. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS, 
Above ashy black. A frontal band of dark sooty brown. 
Bill, black; feet lead color. Beneath dull whitish; sides brown- 
ish chestnut, of more or less intensity. 
Length, 6.25; wing, 3.20 
Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains. 
PARUS ATRICAPILLUS (L.). (735.) 
CHICKADEE. 
The Chickadee is a common, permanent resident of Minne- 
sota, scarcely any portion of which yet visited, where there is 
timber found, which does not have a fair representation of 
them. But they are met with more frequently in the autumn 
and early spring when they come out from the denser wood- 
lands and seek the cultivated sections, where the sun has made 
its food more attainable. At all times during winter, however 
