CAROLINA CHICKADEE. | 223 
ago the Black-capped Titmouse was as abundant in Central Ohio as the 
Tufted. Since that time it has become quite rare, and a winter visitor 
only in the vicinity of Columbus. In some seasons none are seen. I 
have seen but two or three individuals in the city limits within ten years. 
Their note is the familiar chick.a-dee-dee, common to all members of the 
family with us, but is less emphatic than that of the Tufted Tit. They 
are almost omnivorous in winter, eating the refuse from kitchens 
as readily as the sparrows. Their ordinary food consists of the insects 
which hide in the crevices of bark, spiders, and tender buds of trees. 
They seem to take particular delight in being present at “hog killing 
time,” when they are as busy as any, and sieze upon many a titbit, seem- 
ingly unconcious of the presence of man. 
The nest is built in a dead tree or stump, usually near the ground. 
The hole is excavated by the bird. The eggs are white, sprinkled with 
reddish brown. They average .58 by .47. 
PARUS ATRICAPILLUS L. 
VAR. CAROLINENSIS (AUD.), Cs. 
Carolina Chickadee. 
Parus atricapillus var. carolinensis, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 
1874, 562; Reprint, 1875, 2.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 4; Journ. Cin. Soc. 
Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 111; Reprint, 2. 
Parus carolinensis, LANGDON, Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 170; Re- 
print, 4. 
Parus carolinensis, AUDUBON, Orn. Biog., ii, 1834, 474. 
Averaging smaller than P. atricapillus ; wings and tail less edged with whitish. About 
44 long; wing less than 24; tail 2.40. 
Habitat, South Atlantic and Gulf region of the United States, north to Washington, 
D.C. Texas and the Mississippi Valley ; north to Central Illinois. 
Not common summer resident. Breeds. Arrives about the middle 
of April, apparently departs for the south soon after the breeding season. 
Resident all the year in Southwestern Ohio. The Carolina or Southern 
Titmouse is doubtfully a variety of the Black-cap Tit, although the 
resemblance is so great, that a casual observer would fail to notice a 
decided difference. In “North American Birds” it is considereda variety 
of P. meridionalis, a species of Hastern Mexico. 
It differs materially in its habits from the Black-cap Tit, although it 
has the same note, it is lower and suppressed in tone, and less frequently 
repeated. In the spring they appear in pairs only, and do not associate 
with their fellows, or with other birds to any considerable extent while 
with us. In selecting a site for a nest, they seem to prefer a willowy 
swamp or the border of a stream, sometimes high ground in the vicinity 
of water, and, more rarely, a solitary woodland. Though unsuspicious, 
