Male examined. The tongue is 4 1/2 twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, flat above, depressed, tapering, the point horny, slit, with four bristly points. Œsophagus, b, c, d, 1 1/2 inch long, tapering at the commencement to the diameter of 2 twelfths, and then continuing nearly uniform, without dilatation; the proventriculus, c, d, is not much enlarged. The stomach, d, e, is a strong gizzard, of an oblong form or ovate, 4 twelfths long, 3 twelfths broad, with strong lateral muscles; its epithelium longitudinally rugous, and of a dark reddish-brown colour. Intestine 7 1/4 inches long, the diameter of its duodenal portion, f, g, h, 2 1/2 twelfths. The rectum, g, k, is 7 1/2 twelfths long; the cœca, j, 1 twelfth long, and 1/4 twelfth in diameter.
The trachea is 1 2/12 inch long, its diameter uniform, 3/4 twelfths, its rings 42. It is furnished with lateral or contractor muscles, sterno-tracheal, and four pairs of inferior laryngeal. Bronchi short, of about 10 rings.
CHESTNUT-CROWNED TITMOUSE.
Parus minimus, Townsend.
PLATE CCCLIII. Male and Female.
My friend Nuttall’s account of this Titmouse is as follows, “We first observed the arrival of this plain and diminutive species on the banks of the Wahlamet, near to its confluence with the Columbia, about the middle of May. Hopping about in the hazel thickets which border the alluvial meadows of the river, they appeared very intent and industriously engaged in quest of small insects, chirping now and then a slender call of recognition. They generally flew off in pairs, but were by no means shy, and kept always in the low bushes or the skirt of the woods. The following day I heard the males utter a sort of weak monotonous short and quaint song, and about a week afterwards I had the good fortune to find the nest, about which the male was so particularly solicitous as almost unerringly to draw me to the spot, where hung from a low bush, about 4 feet from the ground, his little curious mansion, formed like a long purse, with a round hole for entrance near the summit. It was made chiefly of moss, down, lint of plants, and lined with some feathers. The eggs, six in number, were pure white, and already far gone towards being hatched. I saw but few other pairs in this vicinity, but on the 21st of June, in the dark woods near Fort Vancouver, I again saw a flock of about twelve, which, on making a chirp something like their own call, came around me very familiarly, and kept up a most incessant and querulous chirping. The following season (April 1836) I saw numbers of these birds in the mountain thickets around Santa Barbara, in Upper California, where they again seemed untiringly employed in gleaning food in the low bushes, picking up or catching their prey in all postures, sometimes like the common Chickadee, head downwards, and letting no cranny or corner escape their unwearied search. As we did not see them in the winter, they migrate in all probability throughout Mexico and the Californian peninsula at this season.”
According to Dr Townsend, “the Chinooks name it a-ha-ke-lok. It is a constant resident about the Columbia River; hops about in the bushes, and frequently hangs from the twigs in the manner of other Titmice, twittering all the while with a rapid enunciation resembling the words thshish, tshist, tsee, twee. The irides are bright yellow.”
Parus minimus, Townsend, Journal of Acad. Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vii. p. 190.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLIII. Fig. 5.
Bill short, strong, compressed; upper mandible with its outline arched, the sides sloping and convex. The edges sharp, the tip descending, acute, and considerably exceeding that of the lower; which has the angle short, the dorsal line ascending and very slightly convex, the edges sharp, the tip acute. Nostrils round, basal. Head rather large, broadly ovate, convex in front; neck short; body slender. Feet of moderate length, tarsus proportionally longer than in any other American species, stout, compressed, with seven anterior scutella, and two lateral plates, forming a very sharp edge behind. Toes moderately stout, the first with its claw equal to the third, the anterior united as far as the first web. Claws rather large, arched, compressed, acute.
Plumage soft and blended. Wings, short, very broad, concave, rounded; first quill half the length of the second, which is a quarter of an inch shorter than the outer secondaries. Tail very long, being half the entire length of the bird, slightly arched, much rounded, and a little emarginate.