The known ranges of the various forms, or subspecies of the Wren-Tit are given in the following paper. All the forms are non-migratory.
Notes on the Plumage of North American Birds
THIRTY-SEVENTH PAPER
By FRANK M. CHAPMAN
(See [Frontispiece])
Bush-Tit (Psaltriparus minimus and races. Fig. 1). The Bush-Tits of this group may be known by their brownish crown. The male and female are alike in color; the young bird closely resembles them but has the crown somewhat darker, and the winter plumage differs from that worn in summer only in being slightly deeper in tone. Three races of this species are known: The Bush-Tit (P. m. minimus) of the Pacific coast from northern Lower California to Washington, in which the crown is sooty brown; the California Bush-Tit (P. m. californicus), which occupies the interior of California and Oregon, and has the crown much brighter than in the coast form; and Grinda’s Bush-Tit (P. m. grindæ), a form of the Cape Region of Lower California with a grayer back.
Lead-colored Bush-Tit (Psaltriparus plumbeus. Fig. 2). The gray crown, of the same color as the back distinguishes this species from the Bush-Tits living west of the Sierras. The male and the female are alike in color; the young is essentially like them, but has less brownish on the sides of the head, and there are no seasonal changes in color.
Lloyd’s Bush-Tit (Psaltriparus melanotis lloydi. Figs. 3, 4). Lloyd’s Bush-Tit is a northern form of the Black-eared Bush-Tit of the Mexican tableland. Occurring over our border only in western Texas, southern New Mexico, and southern Arizona, it is rarely observed by the field ornithologist. The adult male may always be known by its black cheeks; and when the female has any black on the sides of the head (as in Fig. 4), no difficulty is experienced in identifying her. But immature males and often some apparently adult females are without black, and they then so closely resemble the Lead-colored Bush-Tit that it is impossible to distinguish them by color alone.
Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps. Fig. 5). When it leaves the nest, the young Verdin is a gray bird with no yellow on its head or chestnut on its wing-coverts, but at the postjuvenal molt both yellow head and chestnut patch are acquired, and the bird, now in its first winter plumage, cannot be distinguished from its parents. These closely resemble each other, but the female sometimes has less yellow on the head. After the colors of maturity are acquired, they are retained, and thereafter there is essentially no change in the Verdin’s appearance throughout the year.