OF NEW ENGLAND. 59 
habitually cling to the trunk. The creepers, on the other 
hand, climb much like woodpeckers, confining themselves to 
the trunks or larger upright limbs, and never touch the earth ; 
while the nuthatches in their habits are intermediate between 
the two. As regards music, however, the chickadees are in- 
termediate, for the nuthatches are. wholly unmusical, while the 
creepers have a warbled song. They all, however, agree in 
building a nest in some cavity, usually the hole of a tree, and 
in laying small, white, spotted eggs, but the titmice are the 
most prolific, laying in one set always more than five eggs, and 
sometimes more than ten. They are all unsuspicious and soci- 
able, though, in Massachusetts, only the chickadees are strictly 
gregarious. The three families are all partially characterized 
as follows: length less than seven inches; bill neither hooked 
nor notched; tarsi scutellate; toes not completely cleft; pri- 
maries ten, the first short or spurious; tail-feathers twelve. 
In the Paride the bill is short, stout, pointed, and with convex 
outlines, the nostrils are concealed, the tarsus is ‘longer than 
the middle toe and claw,” the tail is long, and about equal to 
the wings. In the Sittidw the nostrils are likewise concealed, 
but the bill is long, rather slender, acute, and with a convex 
outline beneath only; the tail is short (pl.1, fig. 5). In the 
Certhiide the bill is slender and decurved, the nostrils are ex- 
posed, and the tail-feathers are stiff and pointed (pl. 1, fig. 6). 
All the creepers and titmice of North America belong to the 
typical groups or subfamilies, Certhiine and Parine. 
f. PARUS 
(A) atricaPitLus. Black-capped Titmouse. Chickadee. 
(Common in Massachusetts throughout the year, but much 
less abundant in summer than in the other seasons.) 
(a). 5-52 inches long. (Tail and wings 23.) Above, ashy, 
variously tinted. Beneath, white, in winter often tinted with 
“rusty” or buff. Crown, nape, and throat black; intervening 
space (nearly) white. 
(0). The Chickadees either select a natural cavity or a de- 
serted woodpecker’s home, or with great labor excavate a hole 
