54 



Bi,ACK-BREASTED TITMOUSE. 



Described by Dr. Forster in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. It is in length five inches : weighs 

 half an ounce : beak black : head rusty brown : 

 cheeks white : back cinereous green : wings brown ; 

 quills margined with ash-colour : throat black, 

 bounding the white on the cheeks: breast and 

 belly white ; sides of the latter rust-coloured: rump 

 rufous white : tail two inches and a half in length, 

 of the same colour as the wings, and slightly 

 rounded : legs black : both sexes are similar in 

 colour, and have the feathers long and loose, with 

 their bases black. 



It inhabits the settlements at Hudson's Bay, 

 where it braves the most severe weather : it 

 frequents juniper bushes, and lays five eggs : it is 

 called Peche-he-keshish by the natives : in the 

 winter it is seen in small flocks, and feeds upon 

 seeds and berries, but in the summer it feeds upon 

 mosquitoes and other insects : it builds its nest in 

 the juniper bushes, made of grass and lined with 

 feathers : it has no song, but only a slight chirp. 



BLACK-BREASTED TITMOUSE. 



(Parus afer.) . 



Pa, nigricans^ genis nucha abdomineque albis, collo subtus pec- 

 toreque nigris. 



Dusky Titmouse, with the cheeks, nucha, and abdomen white, 



neck beneath and breast black. 

 Parus afer. Gmel. Syst. Nat, 1. 1010. — Lath, Ind, Orn, 2. 



564. 7. 



Black-breasted Titmouse. Lath. Gen, Syn, 4. 539. ^. 



