The tail is considerably shorter than the wing, instead of longer; the black of the throat extends much farther back, is more dense and more sharply defined behind, than in atricapillus. Taking into view these differences, and others of color, we feel justified in retaining this as a species distinct from atricapillus, and, in fact, having meridionalis as its nearest relative (see Synoptical Table). Both this species and atricapillus are found together in the Middle States, each preserving its characteristics.
Habits. South of the once famous line of Mason and Dixon this smaller counterpart of the Chickadee seems to entirely replace it, although in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and occasionally even as far to the north as New York City, the two occur together. Its range is presumed to be all the States south of the Potomac and the Ohio, as far to the west as the Rio Grande. It was probably this species, and not the atricapillus, which was met with by Dr. Woodhouse in the Indian Territory. Without much doubt it breeds in all the States south of Pennsylvania.
In Southern Illinois, as far north in the Wabash Valley as the mouth of White River, this is the only species, unless the P. atricapillus occasionally occurs in winter. Specimens from this region are undistinguishable from those taken in Georgia and the extreme Southern States, and do not present the peculiar features of P. atricapillus. It is a very abundant species,
and resident, being in winter one of the most common, as well as one of the most familiar birds, inhabiting all localities, giving preference neither to swampy woods nor to door-yards, for it is as often seen in one place as another. It is never gregarious, though many may often be seen or heard at the same moment. It begins incubation early in April, generally selecting the wild plum and red-bud trees in the woods. This species very often constructs its own nesting-places, and the soft wood of these trees is very easily excavated. The excavation is generally made in a horizontal dead limb, with the opening on the under side; this is neat and regular, and as elaborate as those of any of the woodpeckers. Sometimes, however, a natural cavity is selected, frequently in a prostrate stump or “snag.” The nest is almost always a very elaborate structure, being a strong compact cup or bed of “felt,” whose main material is rabbit-fur and cow-hair.
In its habits it seems to resemble more closely the P. palustris of Europe than the atricapillus, being generally found only in the immediate vicinity of ponds and deep, marshy, moist woods. It is also rarely found other than singly or in pairs, the parent birds, unlike most of this family, separating from their young soon after the latter are able to provide for themselves. It rarely or never moves in flocks.
Their notes are said to be less sonorous and less frequent than those of our Black-capped Titmouse. In the winter a portion retire from the coast in South Carolina into the interior of the State and into Florida, where Mr. Audubon found them, in the winter of 1831 and 1832, much more abundant than he had ever seen them elsewhere. He found them breeding as early as February, occasionally in the nests deserted by the Brown-headed Nuthatch. A nest obtained by Dr. Bachman from a hollow stump, about four feet from the ground, was in form cup-shaped, measuring two inches internally in diameter at the mouth, and three externally, with a depth of two inches. It was constructed of cotton, fine wool, a few fibres of plants, and so elaborately felted together as to be of uniform thickness throughout.
Mr. Audubon was in error in regard to the eggs, which he describes as pure white. Their ground-color is of pure crystalline whiteness, but they are freely and boldly marked all over with deep reddish-brown and red spots. These, so far as we have compared the eggs, are larger, more numerous, and more deeply marked than are any eggs of the atricapillus we have ever met with.
According to the observations of the late Dr. Alexander Gerhardt of Whitfield County, Georgia, these birds usually breed in holes that have been previously dug out by the Picus pubescens, or in decaying stumps not more than five or six feet from the ground. He never met with its nest in living trees. The eggs are from five to seven in number, and are usually deposited in Georgia from the 10th to the last of April.
The eggs of this species are slightly larger than those of the atricapillus,
and the reddish-brown blotches with which they are profusely covered are much more distinctly marked. They are of a spheroidal oval in shape, have a pure white ground, very uniformly and generally sprinkled with blotches of a reddish-brown. They measure .60 by .50 of an inch.