92 CRESTED TITMOUSE. 
The Black-capped Titmouse 1s five inches and a half in length, and six 
and a half in extent; throat, and whole upper part of the head and 
ridge of the neck, black; between these lines a triangular patch of 
white, ending at the nostril; bill, black and short; tongue, truncate ; 
rest of the upper parts, lead colored or cinereous, slightly tinged with 
brown; wings, edged with white; breast, belly, and vent, yellowish 
white ; legs, light blue; eyes, dark hazel. The male and female are 
nearly alike. The Fig. 32, in the plate, renders any further descrip- 
tion unnecessary. 
The upper parts of the head of the young are for some time of a 
dirty brownish tinge ; and in this state they agree so exactly with the 
Parus Hudsonicus,* described by Latham, as to afford good grounds 
for suspecting them to be the same. 
These birds sometimes fight violently with each other, and are 
known to attack young and sickly birds, that are incapable of resist- 
ance, always directing their blows against the skull.t Being in the 
woods one day, [ followed a bird for some time, the singularity of 
whose notes surprised me. Having shot him from off the top of a very 
tall tree, I found it to be the Black-headed Titmouse, with a long and 
deep indentation in the cranium, the skull having been evidently, at 
some former time, drove in and fractured, but was now perfectly healed. 
Whether or not the change of voice could be owing to this circum- 
stance, I cannot pretend to decide. 
CRESTED TITMOUSE.—PARUS BICOLOR. — Fie. 33. 
Parus bicolor, Linn. Syst. i. 544, 1.— La Mésange huppée de la Caroline, Buff. v. 
451.—Toupet Titmouse, Arct. Zool. i. No. 324.— Lath. Syn. iv. 544, 11. — 
Peale’s Museum, No. 7364. 
PARUS BICOLOR. — Linxxvs. 
Parus bicolor, Bonap. Synop. p. 100. — The Crested Titmouse, Aud. pl. 39. Orn. 
Biog. i. p. 198. 
Tuis is another associate of the preceding species, but more noisy, 
more musical, and more suspicious, though rather less active. It is, 
nevertheless, a sprightly bird, possessing a remarkable variety in the 
tones of its voice, at one time not much louder than the squeaking of 
a mouse, and a moment after whistling aloud, and clearly, as if calling 
a dog; and continuing this dog-call through the woods for half an 
hour at a time. Its high, pointed crest, or, as Pennant calls it, foupet, 
* Hudson Bay Titmouse, Synopsis, ii. 557. os Ss . 
t Ihave frequently heard this stated regarding the British Titmice, particularly 
the Greater, but I have never been able to trace it to any authentic source ; it 
is perhaps exaggerated. Feeding on carrion, which they have also been repre- 
sented to do, must in a wild state be from necessity. Mr Audubon asserts it as a 
oe with regard to the P. bicolor. Mr. Selby has seen P. major eat young birds. 
—Eb. 
