NUTHATCHES AND TITS 
455 
you look up and think, “ What an alert, bright bird,” but when the 
fluffy, bob-tailed little pygmies come trooping in and alight upside 
down against the tips of the pine branches, talking in soft little 
liquid notes, you feel like exclaiming, “ Oh, you winsome little mites, 
how jolly it is to see you again ! ” 
A pair feeding nearly grown young were discovered by Mr. Bailey 
in the Sierra Nevada toward the last of July. Their small nest hole 
was widened from a crack in the hard shell of a half decayed pine, 
where the digging was probably easy. 
GENUS PARUS. 
General Characters. — Bill much shorter than head, curved; wings and 
tail about equal and rounded; plumage loose. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Head crested. 
2. Throat black. wollweberi, p. 457- 
2'. Throat not black. 
3. Crest black or brown, contrasting with gray of hack. 
atricristatus, p. 455. 
3'. Crest gray like back. 
4. Upper parts dark brownish or olive gray. Pacific coast region 
of California and Oregon. inornatus, p. 456. 
4'. Upper parts light gray. Colorado to Sierra Nevada. 
griseus, p. 456. 
t\ Head not crested. 
2. Top of head brown. 
3. Back brownish gray.. . columbianus, p. 459. 
3'. Back dark rufous. 
4. Sides and flanks rufous. rufescens, p. 459. 
4'. Sides and flanks gray, faintly tinged with rufous. 
neglectus, p. 459. 
2'. Top of head black. 
3. With white line over eye .gambeli, p. 458. 
3'. Without white line over eye. 
4. Tail longer than wing. Rocky Mountain plateau. 
septentrionalis, p. 457. 
4'. Tail equal to or shorter than wing. 
5. Sides gray like back. sclateri, p. 458. 
5'. Sides not gray. 
6. Sides white. Texas .agilis, p. 486. 
6'. Sides huffy or brown. 
7. Sides huffy (whitish in summer). Eastern. 
atricapillus, p. 457. 
7'. Sides brown ....... occidentalis, p. 458. 
Subgenus Lophophanes. 
Crested. 
732. Parus atricristatus Cass. Black-crested Titmouse. 
Adults. — Forehead white or smoky brown , crest black; rest of upper 
