style="font-size:15px;"> This variety is very similar to the Psaltriparus minimus of the west coast, which it represents in the Rocky Mountain region. It is, however, appreciably larger, the wings and tail proportionally longer. The top of the head is plumbeous, uniform with the back, instead of smoky-brown. The back is a paler ash, the under parts darker.
Habits. Of the history of this variety but little is known. It is found in the southern portion of the Rocky Mountain regions, within the United States, in Arizona and New Mexico. The extent of its area of distribution remains to be ascertained. Dr. Kennerly met with it on Little Colorado River, where he observed it among the scattered bushes along the banks of the river, occurring in large flocks. These passed rapidly from place to place, uttering their short, quick notes. He afterward met with them along the head waters of Bill Williams Fork, inhabiting the tops of the cotton-wood trees. When attracted to them by their notes, they could only be seen after a very careful search. He obtained no knowledge as to their mode of nesting, and no information, so far as we are aware, has been obtained in regard to their eggs. It may, however, be safely conjectured that they are white, and hardly distinguishable from those of the minimus. Dr. Coues found them common near Fort Whipple, Arizona.
Mr. Ridgway met with this bird in especial abundance among the cañons of West Humboldt Mountains in September. He found it also in all suitable places westward to the very base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was met with principally in the thick brushwood bordering the streams, in ever-restless companies, continually twittering as they flew from bush to bush, in single rows. Mr. Ridgway describes these birds as remarkably active in their movements. If unmolested, they were exceedingly unsuspicious and familiar. During November he found them inhabiting the cedars, always associating in scattered flocks.
Auriparus, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 85. (Type, Ægithalus flaviceps, Sund.)
Gen. Char. Form sylvicoline. Bill conical, nearly straight, and very acute; the commissure very slightly and gently curved. Nostrils concealed by decumbent bristles. Wings long, little rounded; the first quill half the second; third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal, and longest. Tail slightly graduated. Lateral toes equal, the anterior united at the extreme base. Hind toe small, about equal to the lateral. Tarsus but little longer than the middle toe.
This genus is closely allied to Paroides of Europe, as shown in Birds of North America (p. 399), though sufficiently different. It is much more sylvicoline in appearance than the other American Paridæ.
Ægithalus flaviceps, Sundevall, Ofversigt af Vet. Ak. Förh. VII, v, 1850, 129. Psaltria flaviceps, Scl. P. Z. S. XXIV, March, 1856, 37. Psaltriparus flaviceps, Scl. Catal. Am. Birds, 1861, 13, No. 79. Paroides flaviceps, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 400, pl. liii, fig. 2. Auriparus flaviceps, Baird, Review, 1864, 85.—Cooper, Birds Cal. 1, 51. Conirostrum ornatum, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. May, 1851, 113, pl. v, fig. 1 (Texas).
Sp. Char. Above cinereous; head, all round, yellow; lesser wing-coverts chestnut; beneath brownish-white. Length, 4.50 inches; wing, 2.16; tail, 2.35.
Hab. Valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado; Cape St. Lucas.
Auriparus flaviceps.
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Habits. This new and interesting little species was first added to our fauna by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, only a year after its first description as a bird of Mexico. Notwithstanding the abundance in which it has been in certain localities, less has been developed in regard to its habits and specific characteristics than we seem to have had a right to anticipate.
It was found in Western Texas, in Mexico, in the lower valleys of New Mexico and Arizona, and is very abundant at Cape St. Lucas. Of the eighteen species of birds found by Mr. John Xantus breeding in the last-named locality, this one was regarded as the most abundant. In a letter from that gentleman, written in August, 1859, he mentioned that he had collected over one hundred eggs of this species, during that season, in the immediate vicinity of Cape St. Lucas.
Auriparus flaviceps.
Dr. Heermann, in his report on the birds observed in Lieutenant Williamson’s explorations, states that he first discovered this species in Southern California, at the terminus of the Mohave River. Owing to their extreme wildness, he was not able to obtain any specimens. In searching for their food, he states that they often remained suspended with their backs downward, after the manner of the Titmice. He found their nests quite abundant, though from the lateness of the season few of the birds were remaining, in the neighborhood of Fort Yuma. Dr. Heermann describes their nests as spherical, formed of twigs, and having the entrance on one side. The interior was lined with down and feathers, and contained usually from four to six eggs. These he describes as having, when fresh, a ground-color of pale blue, dashed all over with small black spots.
Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the Birds of the Mexican Boundary Survey, states that he met with this species in the vicinity of the Rio Grande. They were very wild, flew rapidly, and to quite a distance before they alighted. They seemed to frequent the low mezquite-bushes on the hillsides.
Mr. Xantus found this species, when he first arrived at San Lucas, on the 4th of April, with young birds already fully fledged, although others were still breeding and continued to breed until the middle of July. Two fifths of all the eggs he collected that season, he writes, were of this species. This may, however, have been in part owing to the conspicuous prominence of their nests, as well as to their abundance. Xantus found the nest in various positions. In one instance it was suspended from a leafless branch not three feet from the ground, with its entrance nearly to the ground. In another instance it was on an acacia twenty feet from the ground. For the most part they are hung from low acacia-trees, on the extreme outer branches. In all cases the entrance to the nest was from the lower end, or towards the ground.
Dr. J. G. Cooper, in his History of the Birds of California, speaks of finding a large number of this beautiful little bird during the whole winter frequenting the thickets of algarobia and other shrubs, and with habits intermediate between those of Titmice and Warblers, corresponding with their intermediate form. Their song resembles that of the Chickadee, and they also uttered a loud cry, as they sat on high twigs, with a triple lisping note resembling tzee-tee-tee. Dr. Cooper found a pair building on the 10th of March. They first formed a wall, nearly spherical in outline, of the thorny twigs of the algarobia, in which tree the nest was usually built. They then lined it with softer twigs, leaves, the down of plants, and feathers. They covered the outside with thorns, until it became a mass as large as a man’s head, or nine inches by five and a half on the outside. The cavity is four and a half inches by two, with an opening on one side just large enough for the bird to enter. On the 27th of March, Dr. Cooper found the first nest containing eggs. These were in all instances four in number, pale blue, with numerous small brown spots, chiefly near the larger end, though some had very few spots and were paler. Their size he gives as .60 by .44 of an inch. In one nest, which he closely observed, the eggs were hatched after about ten days’ incubation, and in two weeks more the young were ready to leave their nest.
Subfamily SITTINÆ
The characters of the Sittinæ are expressed with sufficient detail on page 86. The section is represented in America by a single genus, confined mainly to the northern portion.
Sitta, Linnæus,
