182 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



735/;. PARUS atrioapillus occidentalis (Baird). Oregon Chickadee. 



The Oregon Chickadee ranges through the Yukon District. During a warm period of winter 

 these birds were occasionally seen at Saint Michael's. They retire to the interior during the mouth 

 of May and are not to be seen during the summer on the coast. 



They breed in the wooded districts. 



Specimens were obtained from Fort Yukon, Nulato, and Saint Michael's. 



This Chickadee presents several characters which may eventually permit it to be ranked as 

 a variety peculiar to the Northwest coast. An insufficiency of specimens from intermediate locali- 

 ties alone prevents me from making a comparison of the present material. The evidence at hand 

 scarcely warrants the separation of the bird as a variety. 



739. Parus cinctus obteotus (Cab.). Siberian Chickadee. [See Plate X.] 



Parus cinctus Auct. nee Bodd. (1783).— Ridgway, Bull. Nutt. Orn. 01., 1878, p. 37. 



Parus sibiricus Auct. nee Gmel. (1788.) 

 ? 182(5. — Parus cinereus Pall., Zoog. Russo-Asiatica. I, p. 558. 



1853. — Parus sibiricus forma major Midd. Sibir. Reise. I, p. — . 



1871.— Parus (Poecila) obtectus Cab., Jour. f. Ornith., 1871, p. 237 (May). 



1871. — Parus grisescens Dresser and Sharpe, Birds of Europe, Part VI, I, p. 5 (August). 



1883. — Parus cinctus grisescens Nelson, Cruise Corwin, p. 60. 



Several specimens of Parus were obtained from various localities in the Yukon district. They 

 were referred to the species cinctus. (See Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club for January, 1878, p. 37.) That 

 they should have been referred to the species obtectus will appear from the following comparisons : 



Previous to 1878 Parus cinctus Bodd had not been detected within our North American limits. 

 About the same time my specimens were received at the Smithsonian Institution. A Parus 

 (obtained by Mr. MacFarlane at Fort Anderson, Hudson Bay Territory, June, 1864) was discovered 

 among the duplicates and was subsequently determined to be the same species. 



A comparison of my specimens with Parus cinctus Bodd (=P. sibiricus Gmel. et Auct.), from 

 Lapland,, shows that the American specimens are not P. cinctus, but are undistinguishable from 

 P. obtectus Cab., as I propose to show : 



Parus cinctus Bodd. 



Onlmen. 



Wing. 



Tail 



feathers. 



Tarsus. 



Middle 

 toe. 



Sex. 



Locality. 



Date. 



0.45 

 0.41 

 0.41 



2.65 

 2.61 

 2.61 



2.65 

 2.61 

 2.60 



0.C3 

 0.62 

 0.67 



0.38 

 0.35 

 0.37 



cf ad., 

 cf ad.. 

 $ ad 







do 



Mar., 1855 

 Mar., 1855 



...do 





0.42 



2.63 



2.62 



0.64 



0.37 



Parus obtectus Cab. 



0.38 



2.65 

 2.60 

 2.55 

 2.70 

 2.70 

 2.70 



2.65 

 2.67 

 2.40 

 2.85 

 2.80 

 2.70 



0.68 

 0.62 

 0.60 

 0.66 

 0.65 

 0.58 



0.40 

 0.35 

 0.40 

 40 

 0.40 

 0.39 



— ad.. 

 $ ad.. 



— ad.. 

 $ ad 

 cf ad.. 

 cf ad.. 



Nulato 



Fort Anderson . . . 



Mar., 1875 

 June, 1864 

 Mar., 1875 

 Mar., 1875 

 Feb., 1876 

 Mar., 1875 



0.40 

 0.40 

 0.41 

 0.40 



do 



Saint Michael's . . . 





0.40 



2.65 



2.68 



0.63 



0.39 



Although the tables of measurements prove but slight relative difference between the species^ 

 the pattern of coloration will show that P. cinctus has the forehead, top, and back of head light 

 grayish-brown. Back, light grayish, raw umber. Tail, plumbeous. Greater coverts edged with 

 brownish-white; secondaries edged with grayish-white. Lores, snuff-brown. JSeck, and sides of 

 head, white. Chin and throat, sepia-brown. Breast and abdomen, white. Sides and flauks, reddish 

 ochraceous. In some of the Lapland specimens the darker colors are much intensified, especially on 

 back and sides. 



