506 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
and plain colors, but slender and very small (under five inches), and tail much 
rounded and graduated; nest in trees or bushes, long, purse-like. 
TITMICE AND CHICKADEES: Subfamily Parinae 
In our Titmice and Chickadees the bill is conical, short, and stout, 
neither notched nor with decurved tip; the nostrils are concealed by 
dense tufts; the feet are stout, the anterior toes much soldered together 
at base; “the hind toe with an enlarged pad beneath, forming, with 
consolidated bases of anterior toes, a broad firm sole” (Coues); the 
primaries are 10, the first short. The plumage is long, soft, and 
loose, without bright colors or well-marked changes in sex, age, or 
season. 
Comparisons. —The subfamily is divided into the uncrested Penthestes (pp. 
506-510), and the crested Baeolophus (pp. 510-514). 
LONG-TAILED CHICKADEE: Penthestes atricapfilus septentrionalis (Harris) 
Description.— Length: About 4.7-6 inches, wing 2.5-2.S, tail 2.5-3, tarsus .6-.7. 
Adults: Top of head , nape , and throat glossy black , sides of head snow white; back, 
scapulars, and part of coverts pale gray becoming buffy gray on rump and upper 
tail coverts, tail and wings slaty, outer tail feathers edged with white, wings with 
broad white edgings; underparts white , sides and flanks tinged with buff; legs and feet 
bluish gray. (In fall and winter more richly colored than in spring and summer.) 
Young: Similar, but black of head duller, without gloss, and texture of plumage 
much looser. 
Range. —Breeds mainly in Canadian and Transition Zones in the region of the 
Great Plains, from central Mackenzie and southwestern Keewatin south to southern 
Kansas, northern New Mexico, northeastern Utah, southern Idaho, and east-central 
Oregon; individuals wander south in winter to central Texas. 
State Records. —[The only nest of the Long-tailed Chickadee yet recorded 
from New Mexico was found by Jensen, on June 12, 1924, when it contained young. 
It was in a woodpecker hole in a quaking aspen in Santa Fe Canyon, at 9,000 feet. 
The species was common in the Safigre de Cristo Range June 18 and 19, 1924 (Ligon).] 
It seems probable that it nests down to 7,500-8,000 feet, at which altitude on the 
Pecos it was found April 27, 1900 (?) (Birtwell); it was still abundant July 16, 1903 
(Bailey), and July 22, 1883 (Henshaw). It was also noted July 18, 1904, at 7,400 
feet on Pueblo Creek near Taos (Bailey). One specimen was taken near the base of 
the Capitan Mountains July 9,1903 (Gaut). It must be rare if not accidental in 
these mountains, for this is the only record and the bird is not known anywhere in 
the 150 miles between the Capitans and the southern limit of the regular range in 
the Pecos Mountains. 
In the fall the old and young move up into the higher mountains and one was 
collected August 15, 1903, at 10,500 feet below Pecos Baldy. It is rare, however, 
above 9,000 feet, though it was found at this altitude August 24, 1904, on the Costilla 
River (Bailey); on Costilla Pass September 22-27, 1903 (Howell); and a few as high 
as 9,800 feet at Twining in October, 1903 (Surber). [An adult male was taken at 
9,000 feet, 20 miles southwest of Cimarron, October 18, 1919 (Ligon).] On August 
16, 1904, it was taken on Red River at about 8,400 feet, while on August 24, 1906, 
it was seen in the alders and cottonwoods along Santa Clara Creek, 7,500 feet 
(Bailey); it was common late in August, 1903, in Oak Canyon, in the Ratons about 
7,000 feet (Howell); and at Horse Lake, 7,800 feet September 24, 1904 (Bailey). 
