277 



731. Parus bicolor Linn. [36.] Tufted Titmouse. 



A common resident throughout the southern half of the Mississippi 

 Valley east of the plains; abundant in eastern Kansas. If this bird 

 performs any migration, it does so merely from the more open country, 

 which it inhabits in summer, to the nearest heavy timber. In the late 

 fall it is a most noisy bird, but in winter the struggle for food gives it 

 no time for " petoing." With the first sign of spring, however, it begins 

 with redoubled energy and keeps the woods full of its clear whistle 

 until after the young have left the nest. In the Mississippi Valley it is 

 not common north of southern Iowa, but has been known to wander to 

 Minnesota. At Caddo, Ind. Ter., it began to leave the bottom-lands 

 March 3, and by March 25 was spread evenly over the country. 



Parus bicolor texensis Sennett. [ — .] Texan Tufted Titmouse. 



An inhabitant of southern Texas. (For a description of this new 

 Tit see the Auk, vol. iv, No. 1, Jan., 1887, pp. 29-30.) 



732. Parus atricristatus Cass. [37. J Black-crested Titmouse. 



Dr. Coues, in his u Birds of the Colorado Valley," says of this spe- 

 cies: "Habitat, Valley of the Eio Grande and southward in Mexico, 

 (p. 116). But the same year (1878) Mr. Bagsdale determined its range 

 in the United States to be south from latitude 33° and west from longi- 

 tude 98° 30'. Mr. Lloyd has ascertained that it is a tolerably common 

 resident in Concho and Tom Green Counties, Tex., and thence to El 

 Paso is the prevailing species. In April, 187*8, its eggs were taken in 

 Comal County, Tex., by Mr. W. H. Werden (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, 

 vol. IV, 1879, p. 76); and Mr. K C. Brown found it "a very abundant 

 resident" at Boerne, Texas, in 1880. (Ibid., vol. vn, 1882, p. 35.) It 

 is an abundant resident along the Lower Kio Grande (Merrill; Sen- 

 nett). 



Parus atricristatus ca.staneifrons Sennett. [ — .] Chestnut-fronted Titmouse. 



This new subspecies has been recently described by Mr. Sennett, 

 from specimens taken in Bee County, in southern Texas (Auk, vol. iv, 

 No. I, Jan., 1887, pp. 28-29). 



734. Parus wollweberi (Bonap.). [39. J Bridled Titmouse. 



The home of the Bridled Tit is in western Texas and thence westward. 



735. Parus atricapillus Linn. [41.] Black- cajjp <ed Chickadee. 



This Chickadee is found in the United States from western Iowa and 

 eastern Kansas eastward, and from southern Illinois northward. It has 

 been claimed that it is not stationary, as has been generally supposed, 

 but that there is a migratory movement each fall and spring, so that 

 the species is not represented in winter at any station by the same in- 

 dividuals which are found there in summer. Very little material has 

 ever been collected for the settlement of this point, and the field would 

 be a fruitful one for some patient and painstaking observer. The only 

 light furnished on the subject, by the record of 1884, came from Saint 



