508 Birds of Colorado 
Genus PSALTRIPARUS. 
Very small Titmice—wing under 2:0; the head without crest, 
short and rounded wings and long and graduated tails, clearly exceed- 
ing the wing in length ; plumage dull and grey without black on the 
head or throat. 
Four species are known from the western United States and temperate 
parts of Mexico. 
Plumbeous Bush-Tit. Psaltriparus plumbeus. 
A.0.U. Checklist no 744—Colorado Records—Aiken 72, p. 195; 
Drew 85, p. 15 ; Lowe 94, p. 270; Cooke 97, pp. 123, 222 ; Gilman 07, 
p- 195 ; Rockwell 08, p. 179 ; Cary 09, p. 184; Warren 09, p. 17. 
Description.—Adult—General colour above blueish-grey, slightly 
washed with olive on the back, darker and duskier on the wings and 
tail; sides of the head from the lores to the ear-coverts pale greyish- 
brown ; below dirty white ; iris pale yellow (according to Aiken, brown 
in the male, yellow in the female), bill and legs black. Length 4:30; 
wing 2-05 ; tail 2-30 ; culmen -24 ; tarsus -65. 
The sexes are alike, and the young hardly distinguishable from the 
adults. 
Distribution.—The drier districts of the western United States from 
eastern Oregon south to western Texas and south-eastern California, 
and perhaps into northern Mexico. 
This Bush-Tit is a rather uncommon resident in Colorado and is 
restricted chiefly to the southern and western portions of the State. 
It comes as far north as Fremont and El Paso cos. on the eastern 
slopes of the mountains. It is practically restricted to the pifions 
and cedars of the upper Sonoran zone, and does not range above 7,800 
feet as a rule. 
The following are the recorded localities: El Paso co. and Fremont 
co., winter and summer (Aiken coll.), Salida, December (Frey), Wet 
Mountains up to 7,800 feet (Lowe), Coventry, breeding (Warren), 
Grand Junction, November, A. H. Howell (Rockwell); Glenwood 
Springs, breeding (Cooke), near Douglas Spring (Cary). 
Habits. —This Bush-Tit frequents the shrubs and. bushes 
on steep hill-sides, and the pifion and cedar country ; 
in winter it is to be met with in fairly large flocks ; it 
is one of the most industrious and active of the family, 
searching with sharp prying eyes for insects and their 
larve, and keeping up an incessant querulous chirping. 
