Parus montanus.
Mr. Ridgway found this species in great abundance among the pines on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as well as in all the extensive cedar-groves on the mountains to the eastward. Around Carson City this species was found throughout the winter. In its manners and notes, particularly the latter, it was hardly distinguishable from P. carolinensis. The notes are described as louder and more distinct, though their calls in spring are rather less clearly articulated.
Parus atricapillus, Linn.
EASTERN CHICKADEE; BLACK-CAPPED TITMOUSE.
Parus atricapillus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 341 (based on Parus atricapillus canadensis, Brisson, III, 553, tab. xxix, fig. 1).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 390; Review, 80.—Sclater, Catal. 1861, 13, No. 80.—Dall & Bannister (Alaska).—Samuels, 182. Pœcile atricapilla, Bon. Consp. 1850, 230. Parus palustris, Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 79.
Figured by Audubon, Wilson, etc.
Sp. Char. Second quill as long as the secondaries. Tail very slightly rounded; lateral feathers about .10 shorter than middle. Back brownish-ashy. Top of head and throat black, sides of head between them white. Beneath whitish; brownish-white on the sides. Sides of outer tail-feathers, some of primaries, and secondaries conspicuously margined with white. Length, 5.00; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.50.
Hab. Eastern North America, north of 39th parallel.
In this species the first quill is spurious; the fourth quill is longest; the fifth and sixth successively a little shorter; the third is about equal to, or a little shorter than, the eighth; the second is a very little longer than the secondaries. The tail is a little rounded, the innermost feather longest, the rest successively a little shorter. The greatest difference in length of tail-feathers amounts to .30 of an inch.