112 CHAEACTEKISTICS OF THE PARING 



Subfamily PARING: Tkue Titmice 



The familiar Cliickadee, so called from its quaint notes, which 

 are thought to resemble the syllables chicle' -ddee, stands as a 

 typical represetitative of this group. The accredited species, 

 to the )iuinl)er of about seventy, ai'e, with few excei)tions, 

 confined to the northern hemisphere, and abound iu mo-<t parts 

 of Eniope, Asia and North America. A strong family like- 

 ness runs through the whole of them, and their habits and 

 manners in most respects are much the same. The principal 

 exception to this statement is found in themethodsof nidiflcation, 

 which vary greatly — some species building in holes of frees, 

 which they excavate like woodpeckers, while others construct 

 immense purse-like pensile nests of grasses or mosses. They 

 are for the most part hardy birds, capable of enduring great 

 cold with impunity; this circumstance, which, with their omniv- 

 orous tastes, renders procuring of food of one kind or another 

 easy at all seasons, causes them to be nou-migratory, or only 

 imperfec^j' so. Their musical ability is decidedly of a low 

 order, though they have a great variety of hearty and not dis- 

 pleasing notes. They are very active, restless, energetic and 

 industrious birds, withal turbulent, self asserting, and in the 

 presence of man heedless to a degree. Among their own kind, 

 they are sociable, iu some cases almost gregarious, but are 

 accused of being tyrannical and cruel, like Jays, toward weaker 

 or more defenseless species. They are very proliflc, not only lay- 

 ing a large clutch of eggs, but often rearing more than one brood 

 annually; as a consequence, they are usually abundant wher- 

 ever found at all. They are chiefly confined to wooded country; 

 the boreal species of America, like Parus hudsonicus, haunt 

 the coniferous forests ; others, for the most part, prefer thickets, 

 shrubbery and under.growth. 



The four genera to be here treated will be readily dis- 

 tinguished by the following characters. 



Genus LOPHOPHANES Kaup 



Chars. — Head crested. Wings and tail rounded, of about 

 equal lengths, and about as long as the body. Bill conoid-com- 

 pressed, with upper and under outlines both convex. No yel- 

 low on head nor red on wing. Plumage lax, much the same 

 at all ages and seasons. Average size of the species at a 



