372 CHESTNUT-BACKED TITMOUSE. 
retirement they rear their young, and for the whole of the succeeding 
autumn and winter remain probably together in families. When the 
gun thins their ranks, it is surprising to see the courage, anxiety, and 
solicitude of these little creatures: they follow you with their wailing 
scold, and entreat for their companions in a manner that impresses 
you with a favourable idea of their social feelings and sympathy.” 
Dr TownsENp says, that “ the Chinook Indians call this species a 
kul. It inhabits the forests of the Columbia River, where it breeds and 
goes in flocks in the autumn, more or less gregarious through the season. 
The legs and feet are light blue.” 
PaRuUS RUFESCENS, CHESTNUT-BACKED T1TMoUusE, Townsend, Journ. Acad. of Na- 
tural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vii. p. 190. 
Adult Male. Plate CCCLIII. Fig. 1. 
Bill very short, straight, strong, compressed, rather acute ; both 
mandibles with the dorsal line slightly convex, the sides sloping and 
convex, the edges sharp, the tip of the upper scarcely longer. Nostrils 
basal, roundish, concealed by the recumbent feathers. Head large, 
ovate ; neck short; body rather robust. Feet of ordinary length, ro- 
bust ; tarsus compressed, with seven anterior scutella, and two lateral 
plates meeting behind so as to form a thin edge ; toes large, the three 
anterior united as far as the second joint, the hind one much stronger, 
and with its claw as long as the third. Claws large, arched, much com- 
pressed, acute. 
Plumage blended, tufty, unglossed. Wings of moderate length, 
the fourth and fifth quills equal and longest, the sixth scarcely shorter, 
the third and seventh equal, the second and eighth equal, the first very 
short, bemg only half the length of the second. Tail long, slender, 
arched, very slightly emarginate, or with its tip divaricate, of twelve 
ather narrow feathers. 
Bill brownish-black, with the edges and tip paler. Feet greyish- 
blue ; claws paler. Head and neck, and fore part of the sides, dark- 
brown, with a broad longitudinal band of white on each side, from the 
bill under the eye, curving up on the shoulder, and almost meeting on 
the back ; which, including the rump, is bright chestnut, as are the 
sides under the wings ; the middle of the breast and abdomen greyish- 
