472 BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPER. 



inches in external diameter, 2^ in internal ; its internal depth is 1 inch, 

 the external two. It is composed externally of coarse hay, and lined 

 in an unusually compact manner, with horse hair. The eggs are oval, 

 nearly equal at both ends, and measm-e six-eighths of an inch by nine-six- 

 teenths, and are in markings exactly as you describe them. The num- 

 ber in this nest was three, but their complement is, I believe, four." 



CRESTED TITMOUSE. 

 Parus bicolor, Linn. 



PLATE XXXIX. Vol. I. p. 199. 



My friend Dr Bachman informs me, that he " kept a bird of this ■ 

 species in confinement for some time. It was in the habit of hiding its 

 food in the comer of its cage in a crevice, and at night crept into a 

 small box, where it lay doubled up like a ball till the first light of the 

 morning, when it resumed its restless habits, continually trying to 

 escape from the cage." This species was not seen by Dr Townsend 

 on the Rocky Mountains, or near the Columbia River ; and Dr Rtch- 

 AEDSON does not mention its occurring in the Fvir Countries. I foimd 

 it abundant in the Texas, and in all our Atlantic States, as well as in 

 Nova Scotia. 



In this species as in the rest, the palate is flat, with two longitudi- 

 nal ridges ; the posterior aperture of the nares oblongo-linear ; the 

 tongue 3g twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, flat 

 above, horny toward the end, with three grooves terminating abruptly, 

 and furnished with stiffish bristles. The oesophagus is 2 inches long, 

 and of the uniform width of two-twelfths ; the proventriculus a little 

 wider. The stomach is small, elliptical, 4| twelfths long, 3^ twelfths 

 broad ; its lateral muscles moderate ; the epithelium longitudinally 

 rugous, and reddish-brown. The intestine is five inches long, from 2^ 

 twelfths to 2 twelfths in width ; the cceca extremely small, about 1 

 twelfth long, and \ twelfth in width. There is on each side a very slen- 

 der salivary gland with two ducts. 



The trachea is 1 inch 4^ twelfths long, of the uniform width of 1^ 

 twelfth, considerably flattened ; its rings 60, the bronchial half rings 

 12. The muscles as in the Warblers and Thrushes. 



