112 PLAIN TITMOUSE. 
and recorded the impression it left upon them—among whom may be mentioned Wood- 
house, Heermann, Xantus, Cooper, Aiken, Ridgway, and Henshaw, all well known in 
connection with the ornithology of this very interesting region. Whilst living in Fort 
Whipple, I frequently came. upon little troops of these Titmice, especially in the winter- 
time—my note-book is silent for the summer months—but I never doubted their perma- 
nence in that vicinity. Nearly all of us who have had anything to say about the birds 
speak of their fondness for the tracts of country which are covered with scrubby ever- 
green oaks; in my ‘Prodome,’ I called it emphatically an evergreen oak species, eschewing 
the pines, and frequently the open hill-sides—a correct statement, though not a model of 
literary handicraft. There was, and for aught I know to the contrary there still may 
be, a large -patch of oaks just back of the fort, where I was almost sure to find these 
Titmice at any time during a portion of the year. This scrubby hill-side, by the way, 
was a favorite resort of mine, not so much for what I expected to find there in the 
ornithological line, as for what.I very sincerely hoped not to find in the way of the 
aborigines—for it was in full view of the fort, and much safer than the ravines on 
either side, where I have gone more than once to bring in the naked and still bleeding 
bodies of men killed by the Apaches. This was in 1864 to 1865, when the worst 
passions of both the Red and White men were inflamed by atrocities exchanged in kind, 
and when practical ornithology. in Arizona was a very precarious matter, always liable 
to sudden interruption, and altogether too spicy for comfort... The recollections of a 
decade ago make a crowded and strangely jumbled picture, in which the high lights rest 
on many an interesting bird, while the swarthy savage crouches in the shadow of the 
back-ground. They tell me things are better now—that the trails are seldom blood- 
stained: in some states of the social atmosphere, a thunder-shower, with leaden rain, 
clears up the sky; and so it proved to be in this case. 
“In studying the habits of Gambel’s Titmouse, surnamed ‘the unadorned,’ I often 
desired to seize upon some salient point in its character, to contrast it with its eastern 
relative; but I was as often disappointed. It has character enough, I wot—few birds 
are of more positive, self-asserting, aggressive personality than the whole family of the 
Titmice; but, by the same token, there is little to distinguish them from cach other. 
In a word, the inornatus is the counterpart of the bicolor; in that statement, the 
whole story of its life is summed.’’* 
The true species inhabits California and western Oregon, the Gray TrrmovseE, P. 
inornatus griseus RipGw., occurs in New Mexico and Colorado, to Arizona and Nevada, 
and another variety of this species, the Asuy Tirmousk, P. inornatus cineraceus Ripcw., 
inhabits Lower California. 
NAMES: Prain Titmouse, Gray-tufted Titmouse, Gambel’s Titmouse, Californian Titmouse.—Einfarbige 
Haubenmeise (German). ; : 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: PARUS INORNATUS Gams. (1843), A. O. U. Code and Check-List (1862). Lopho- 
phanes inornatus Brd. (1852). 
DESCRIPTION: “Entire upper parts dull leadén-gray, with a slight olive shade; the wings and tail rather 
purer and darker. Below, dull ashy-whitish, without any rusty wash on the sides. No black on the 
head. Extreme fore-head and sides of the head obscurely speckled with whitish. No decided markings 
anywhere. In size rather smaller than P. bicolor. 
“Length usually under 6 inches, &c.”” (Coues.) 
* “Birds of the Colorado Valley.” By Dr. Elliott Coues. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1878, 114—116, 
