146 BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE. 



drical, pendulous cones, which are longer than the leaves, and have their 

 scales lax. It grows in rich soil, in all parts of the United States from 

 Canada to Virginia, and affords the best timber for masts, as well as for other 

 purposes. In Britain, where it has long been planted, it is generally known 

 by the name of Weymouth pine, or Lord Weymouth's pine, from the name 

 of the nobleman who introduced it. 



BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE. 



- Parus atricapillus, Linn. 



PLATE CXXVL— Male and Female. 



The opinion generally entertained respecting the extensive dispersion of 

 the Black-cap Titmouse, has in all probability originated from the great 

 resemblance which it bears to the Carolina Titmouse, Parus Carolinensis, 

 that species being now known to extend its spring and summer migrations 

 as far eastward as the State of New Jersey, where it has been found breeding 

 by my friend Edward Harris, Esq. of Moorestown. The Black-cap, on 

 the other hand, is rarely observed farther south, and then only in winter, 

 when it proceeds as far as beyond the middle portions of Maryland, from 

 whence I have at that season received specimens in spirits, collected by my 

 friend Colonel Theodore Anderson of Baltimore. Westward of the 

 Alleghanies it extends as far as Kentucky in winter, but at the approach of 

 spring returns northward. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey some are 

 known to breed; but as the Carolina Titmouse breeds there also, it is diffi- 

 cult to say which of them is the most numerous, they being so like each 

 other that one is apt to confound them. In the State of New York it is 

 abundant, and often rears two broods in the season; as you proceed eastward 

 j'ou may observe it in all places favourable to its habits; and, according to 

 Dr. Richardson, it is found as far north as lat. 65°, it being in the Fur 

 Countries the most common bird, "a small family inhabiting almost every 

 thicket." None were seen by Mr. Townsend either on the Rocky Moun- 

 tains or about the Columbia river, where, on the contrary, Parus Caroli- 

 nensis is abundant, as it is also in the Texas, where I found it breeding in 

 the spring of 1S37. Although bearing a considerable resemblance to the 



