^u 



PARID^ — LOPHOPHzVNES BICOLOR. 19 



also kept in place with the tine silk of spider-webs, after the manner 

 of the Wood Pewee or the Hummingbird. It is lined with thistle- 

 down a,nd lichens. The interior is somewhat purse-shaped, for the mouth 

 is contracted. The nest strikingly reminds one of that of a Humming- 

 bird, only it is much larger, beiug, in fact, very large for the species to 

 which it belongs; yet its beautiful finish does credit to its delicate archi- 

 tect. Eggs from four to six in number, short oval in form, pure white in 

 color, spotted and blotched irregularly with reddish, brown umber and 

 lilac. Dimensions from 0.46 by O.CO to 0.43 by 0.50." The egg varies 

 greatly iu amount of speckling, which, however, is generally pretty 

 evenly distributed. Blown specimens frequently offer a faint bluish 

 cast. Two specimens I measured were 0.00 by 0.4? and 0.58 by 0.48, 

 respectively. 



Family PAEID.^ : Titmice. 



LOPHOPHANES BICOLOR, (Linn.) Bp. 



Tofted Titmouse. 



Fm-us Ueolor, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 340.— Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 1005.— Lath., IdcI 

 Orn. ii, 1790, 567.— WiLS., Am. Ore. i, 1808, 137, pi. 8, f. 5.— Bl'., Joura. Pliila. 

 Acad, iv, 1825, 225; Svd. 1828, 100; List, 1838, 20.- AuD., Oni. Biog. i, 1.^31, '~'^^'' 

 199 ; V, 1839, 472 ; pi. 39 ; Syn. 1839, 78 ; B. Am. ii, 1841, 143, iil. 12.5.— Nuix., %'/>-'> 

 Man. i, 1832, 236. — Linsley, Am. Jourii. Sci. xliv, 1H43, 255 (Couuecticnt). — 1 . ' ^ 

 GiEADD, B. L. L 1844, 78. y^ifc- 



Loplioplianes bicolor, Bp., Consp. Av. i, 1850, 228 — Ca.ss., 111. i, 1853, 18. — Woomi., Sit"-r. 

 Eep. iteS, 08.— Maxim., J. f. O. 1^58, 117.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 384 ; Rev. 18(i4, 

 73.— COUES & Pi:i;nt., Smiths. Kep. 18G1, 411.— Hayd., Eep. 18()2, 174.— Allen, 

 Pr. Ess. Inst, iv, 1864, 83. — CouE.s, ibid, v, 1SG8, 279. — Lawj!., Ann. Lj'c. N. Y. 

 viii, 1868, 233.— Turn. B. E. Pa. 1839. 21.— Gkecg, Pr. Elmira Acad. 1870 (Che- 

 mung County, N.Y., rare). — Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. ii, I'-Tl, 261 (Florida) ; iii, 1872, 

 125 (Kansas). — Scott, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 1872 ( V/est Virjiiuia). — Teippb, ibid. 236 

 (Iowa, resident).— Mayn., B. Fla. 1^72, 32.— Coles, Key, 1872, 80, fig. 21.— 

 Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 6 (resident). 



BwolopJiiis bicolor, Cab,, Mus. Hein. 1851, 91. 



Lophophanes missouriensis, Bd., B. N. A, lt58, 384 (in text), 



Hab. — Eastern United States. North to the Connecticut Valley, rarely (?? to Nova 

 Scotia, AuD.), and Iowa. West to Kansas and Nehraska. Resident throughout its 

 range. 



Not obtained by Captain Eaynolds' Expedition, nor by the later ones. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 4731, St. Joseph, Missouri. 



In reject of latitudinal distribution the Tufted Titmouse offers much 

 the same case as the Blue-gray Gnat-catcher — both birds appear to be 

 characteristic of a certain faunal area, beyond which they rarely, if ever, 

 pass. Its northern limit appears to be the Connecticut Valley, for Aud- 

 ubon's Nova Scotian record requires confirmation. The species belongs 

 distinctively to the Eastern Province, reaching only to the Lower j\[is- 

 souri. Eastern Kansas, and Nebraska. Mr. Allen says that it was " one of 

 the most numerously represented and most noisy species met with at 

 Leavenworth.'' Though so restricted in its northward range, it is a 

 hardy bird, not migratory, remaining in abundance in the Middle dis- 

 tricts throughout the year. It shares the restless, noisy, and inquisitive 

 characters of the family to which it belongs. The eggs, of the usual 

 shape in this group, are five or six in number, deposited in various holes 

 and crannies ; they measure about 0.70 by 0.55 inches, are white, and 

 thickly and pretty evenly sprinkled with minute dots of reddish-brown. 



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