156 
HUDSON’S BAY TITMOUSE. 
the parents and the young, which had leaped out on hearing the guns, we 
sat down to examine the curious fabric the birds had reared for their brood. 
The nest was placed at the height of not more than three feet from the 
ground, in the hollow of a decayed low stump, scarcely thicker than a man’s 
leg, the whole so rotten that it crumbled to pieces on being touched. I 
cautiously removed the woody enclosure, and took possession of the nest, 
which I obtained in perfect order. It was shaped like a purse, eight inches 
in depth, two in diameter inside, its sides about half an inch thick. It was 
entirely composed of the finest fur of different quadrupeds, but principally 
of the great northern hare, so thickly and ingeniously matted throughout, 
that it looked as if it had been felted by the hand of man. It was quite 
elastic throughout, and rather wider at the bottom, probably in consequence 
of the natural growth of the young. The captain told me that he had seen 
the parents enter the stump, and that on his walking towards it he was 
immediately assailed, not only by the owners of the nest, but by several 
other pairs of the same species, all of which, however, had retired when I 
reached the ^pot. It is probable they had nests in the vicinity, but we did 
not succeed in finding any. The male, which was shot last, several times 
flew at me so close, that I attempted to catch it alive, but it always eluded 
my grasp with dexterity, perched on a low branch, and emitted its angry 
te-te-tc-tee. The young I carried on board alive. 
This hardy little bird resembles in its manners the other species of its 
interesting and beautiful tribe ; but as the habits of our Titmice are well 
known, and have been already spoken of by me, I shall not here trouble 
you with unnecessary repetitions. Its notes resemble those of the Carolina 
Titmouse, but are much weaker. 
The species is much scarcer in those parts of Labrador which I visited 
than in Newfoundland, where I found it as abundant as our northern Black- 
headed Titmouse. The old and young birds were moving in groups in the 
direction of Nova Scotia, whither I suppose they all retire in the autumn, 
and where I have seen the species along the roads between Halifax and 
Windsor. Many breed in that province, as well as in New Brunswick, and, 
as I have said, in Maine, where my young friend Lincoln has at times 
found them. None have ever been seen as far south as even Massachusetts. 
I have represented the male, the female, and the young, in the plumage in 
which I found them. The brown of the head is much duller in winter than 
in summer. The young do not acquire it until towards the spring following 
their birth. 
Parus Hudsonicus, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 566. 
Hudson’s Bay Titmouse, And. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 543. 
