384 



U. S. p. E. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Comparative measurements of species. 



LOPHOPHANES BICOLOK, Bon. 



Tufted Titmouse. 



Parus bicolor, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 340 — Wir.soN, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 137 ; pi. viii, f. 5.— Eowap. Obs. Wils. 



J. A. N. S. IV, 1825, 225.— Ib. List, 1838.— Ahd. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 199 : V, 1839, 472 ; pi. 



301.— Ib. Birds America, II, 1841, 143; pi. 125. 

 Lophophanes bicolor, Bp. List Birds Europe, 1842. — Ib . Conspectus, 1850, 228. — Cassin, Illust, I, 1853, 18. 

 Baeclophus bicolor, Caeahis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 91. Type. 



Sp. Ch. — Above ashy black ; a frontal band. Beneath dull whitish ; sides brownish chestnut, of more or less intensity. 

 Length, 6.25 inches ; wing, 3.17. 



Hab. — Eastern North America to the Missouri river . 



Feathers of the crown elongated into a flattened crest, whicli extends back as far as the 

 occiput. Bill conical ; lower edge of upper mandible nearly straight at the base. Fourth and 

 fifth quills equal ; third a little shorter than seventh; second rather shorter than the secondaries. 

 Tail nearly even, the outer about .20 of an inch shorter than the longest. Upper parts ash 

 color, with a tinge of olivaceous. Forehead dark sooty brown. The feathers of the upper part 

 of the head and crest obscurely streaked with lighter brown. Under parts of head and body, 

 sides of head, including auriculars, and a narrow space above the eye, dirty yellowish white, 

 tinged with brown ; purest on the side of head, the white very distinct in the loral region, and 

 including the tuft of bristly feathers over the nostrils, excepting the tips of those in contact 

 with the bill, which are blackish. The sides of the body and the under tail coverts are tinged 

 with yellowish brown. The quills and tail feathers are edged with the color of the back, without 

 any whitish. Bill black. Feet lead color. 



Specimens from the west differ from eastern ones almost enough to constitute distinct species. 

 They are considerably larger ; the crest longer. The bill is blacker and more sinuate along the 

 cutting edge of the upper mandible. The black of the forehead is deeper and more sharply 

 defined. The brownish rusty of the sides is much more conspicuous, while the under tail coverts 

 are much lighter, almost pure white. Should these be considered as sufficiently distinctive 

 characters by ornithologists, the species might bear the name of Lophophanes missouriensis, from 

 the river on or near which all the specimens before me were collected. 



