NORTH AMERICAy BIRDS. 485 



fine dry grasses, shreds of fibrous bark, with a warm lining of feathers, cattle hair 

 and fur of the smaller quadrupeds. The eggs are five to eight in number, white, 

 sprinkled with specks and small blotches of reddish-brown. In a large series, how- 

 ever, there is considerable variation, both in color and size. Ten specimens 

 average .60x.50. The eggs are not distinguishable from those of Parus atrieapillus. 



736a. PLUMBEOUS CHICKADEE. Parus carol iiiciisis- agilis Senn. Geog. 

 Dlst. — ^Eastern and Central Texas (Bee, Victoria, Cook and Concho counties, etc.). 



Mr. George B. Sennett, who describes this new Chickadee* says that it can be dis- 

 tinguished from its nearest ally, P. caroJinensis, by its whiter underparts; by its being 

 almost entirely free from buff washings on sides, and from olive and brown washings 

 on upper parts; and its very pale lead color on back. Mr. J. A. Singley has sent me 

 five eggs of this bird which he collected in Lee county, Texas, with full details of the 

 bird's nidlfication. The nest is usually excavated in an oak stub at elevations rang- 

 ing from two to fifteen feet. Deserted Woodpecker holes, natural cavities in trees 

 are commonly chosen, and occasionally Martin boxes are used. The breeding season 

 is from the last of February to the first of May. The foundation of the nest is made 

 of short, green moss, mixed with animal hair, and the lining, as a rule, is of rabbit 

 fur. The bird sits so closely that it usually has to be lifted from the nest. The eggs 

 are five to eight in number, white, variously speckled, spotted and blotched with 

 cinnamon-rufous. They cannot be distinguished trom the eggs of P. atrieapillus 

 or caroUnensis, and vary in as great a degree, both in size and coloration, as eggs 

 of the same species are found to differ. The sizes of fiver eggs just mentioned are 

 .56X.43, .61X.47, .62x.50, .63x.47, .63x.50. This plumbeous colored Chickadee is very 

 likely the prevailing form of Texas. 



737. TVrEXTOAIT CHICKADEE. Pa)-us meridionalis Scl. Geog. Dist — Moun- 

 tains of Mexico, from Orizaba north to Southern Arizona. 



The Mexican Chickadee differs from P. atrieapillus in having the under parts of 

 a paler shade of the ashy of the upper, instead of white. Nesting and eggs indis- 

 tinguishable from airieapilUis. 



738. MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE. Parus <7om6e?i Ridgw. Geog. Dist.— Moui^' 

 tainous regions of Western United States. 



The Mountain Chickadee inhabits the mountainous regions of Western -United 

 States, chiefly the alpine districts. It nests in old Woodpeckers' excavations and 

 natural cavities of trees and stumps, from two to twenty feet above the 

 ground. Fibrous roots, grasses, sheep's wool, cattle's hair, or fur of the smaller 

 qaudrupeds constitute the materials of the nest; these will vary with the locality. A 

 nest of this bird was found in a rotten stump, two feet from the ground, by Mr. L. 

 Belding, near Marysville, California, containing seven white eggs.f Dr. Brewer 

 describes a nest which was discovered by Mr. Charles A. Allen, June 11, 1879, in the 

 mountains of Placer county, California. It was constructed in an old hole of the 

 White-headed Woodpecker, Xenopieus alholarratus, and contained seven e^s, six of 

 which were pure white, unspotted, and the seventh marked over the entire surface 

 with dots of reddish-brown, f Dr. James C. Merrill found a nest of this species in 

 Montana, on June 18. It was in a cavity of a pine, about sixteen feet above the 



* The Auk, V, v. 46. 



t <y: Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, III. pp. 102-103. 



t n>. V. r>. 4T. 



