HiTDSONiAN Titmouse in Massachusetts.— Mr. Ralp^ J 

 A. Qiiimby of Boston had the good fortune to secure 

 specimen of the Hudsonian T itmouse^ {PartM hudmnieus,) 

 while collecting in Qiiincy, Mass., March 14th. It was with 

 tile Common Black-capped. 



Capture of the Hudsonian Chickadee in Worcester County, Mass. — A 

 specimen of this species {Parus hiidsouicus) was talien in a low swampy 

 tract in North Ashburnham, Mass., during a blinding snowstorm, March 

 17, 1S90. While wading through the snow along an old cart-path in the 

 above-mentioned swamp I thought I detected an unfamiliar chirp in the 

 bushes near by, and presently three dark colored birds appeared in sight. 

 I immediately fired at the nearest one, but must have missed it, as, with 

 the aid of my setter, I could not find it. In the mean time the other two 

 had disappeared, but following carefully along in the direction they had 

 taken I soon found them again, and secured one with the right barrel, 

 but the other shell missed fire, but a friend with me, from whom the other 



bird was hidden by thick bushes, handed me his gun and I secured it. 

 They proved to be a young male and a female, the first examples of this 

 species, I believe, ever taken in Worcester County.— R. E. Kimball, 

 Fitchburg, Mass. 



jAk. VII. July. 1890, p. Sl'^I -■Z.^X . 



The Hudsonian Chickadee i^Parus ktidsonicus) in Vermont and Massa- 

 chusetts—While passing through a large larch swamp in Sutton, Vt.. 

 Aug. t6, 1889, I saw three or four Hudsonian Chickadees in company with 

 a number of common Chickadees. A specimen shot proved to be a bird 

 of the year. I do not remember to have seen any previous record of this 

 species in the State of Vermont. From the date and from the nature of tliu 

 locality it is probable that the birds bred there. 



On October x8, 1S89, I found two individuals of this species in a white 

 pine grove in Arlington, Mass. These also were among a flock of com- 

 mon Chickadees. The following day I shot one of them. The survivor 

 remained in the same grove as late as the 22d. On the lyth of November 

 of the same year I discovered another in a small grove composed of white 

 pines, pitch pines and red cedars in Waverly, Mass. This bird remained 

 in the same wood throughout the following winter. I saw it at frequent 

 intervals up to April 5, 1890, when it disappeared together with a large 

 flock of the common species — its associates throughout the winter. Very 

 likely the Hudsonian came from the north with the Blackcaps in the 

 autumn and returned with them in the spring {cf. Allen, Bull. Mus. 

 Corap. ZooL, n, 262). During its sojourn with us it was much less active 

 and noisy than its Black-capped cousins and stuck more closely to the 

 evergreen trees. While the Blackcaps made daily foraging excursions 

 extending a quarter of a mile or more beyond the limits of the grove, the 

 Hudsonian remained behind, silently awaiting their return. The peculiar 

 tone of its voice affected even its simple chip, so that, after long acquain- 

 tance, 1 could trace the bird merely by this simple clue. 



During a short trip with Mr. William Brewster to Mt. Graylock, Berk- 

 shire Co., Mass., Dec. 14-20, 18S9, we found the Hudsonian Titmouse on 

 four several days — three or four specimens in second-growth pasture 

 spruces in the Notch (alt. l6oo ft.), and a flock, estimated at six to ten, in 

 the 'Mountain Pasture' (alt. 2200 ft.). 



Assuming that the Waverly bird was not the survivor of the pair seen 

 in Arlington (the two localities are three and a half miles asunder), it 

 makes the ninth, I believe, recorded from eastern Massachusetts. At least 

 two unrecorded specimens have been killed in this neighborhood — one by 

 Mr. S. F. Denton in Wellesley, Oct. 30, 1880, and one by Mr. Brewster 

 in Belmont, Dec. 31, 1884. It has also been taken in Rhode Island and 

 Connecticut. Instead of regarding this species as accidental in Massachu- 

 setts, as Mr. Allen does in his list of the birds of the State, I believe it to 

 be a rare (perhaps irregular) bird of passage in the eastern part of the 

 State, while probably considerable numbers descend in autumn along the 

 spruce belt of the Green Mountains into northern Berkshire. That it 

 breeds on Mt. Graylock I think improbable, as it was not fourid there in 

 the summer by either Mr. Brewster or myself during several weeks spent 

 in exploring the mountains in the years 1883, 18S8, and 1889.— Wal- 

 ter Faxon, Museum of Comparative Zo6logy, Cambridge, Mass. 



