_Parus septentrionalis_, HARRIS, Pr. A. N. Sc. II, 1845, 300.—CASSIN,
Illust. I, 1853, 17, 80, pl. xiv.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 389;
Review, 79.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 14, no. 82. _Parus
septentrionalis_, var. _albescens_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
xxxvii. _? Parus atricapillus_, PR. MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 119.
SP. CHAR. Length about 5.50 inches; wing, 2.70; tail about 3 inches.
Head above and below black, separated by white on the sides of the
head; back brownish-ash. Beneath white, tinged with pale
brownish-white on the sides. Outer tail-feathers, primaries, and
secondaries broadly edged with white, involving nearly the whole outer
web of outer tail-feather. Tail much graduated; the outer feather
about .50 of an inch shorter than the middle. Second quill about as
long as the secondaries.
HAB. Region of Missouri River to Rocky Mountains.
This race is very similar to the _P. atricapillus_, but differs from
it somewhat as _atricapillus_ does from _carolinensis_. Its size is
much greater; the tail proportionally longer, and much more graduated;
the white of wing and tail purer and more extended. The bill appears
to be stouter and more conical. The back has, perhaps, a little more
yellowish. The spurious or first primary is larger.
It will be a difficult matter to retain this as a species distinct
from _atricapillus_, in view of the insensible gradation from one form
to the other; and it may be looked upon, with scarcely a doubt, as
simply a long-tailed Western variety of the common species. _P.
occidentalis_, and, probably, even _P. carolinensis_, may even fall
under the same category, their peculiarities of color and size being
precisely such as would _a priori_ be expected from their geographical
distribution.
HABITS. The Long-tailed Titmouse appears to have an extended
distribution between the Mississippi Valley and the Rocky Mountains,
from Texas into the British Possessions, specimens having been
received from Fort Simpson and Lake Winnipeg. Among the notes of the
late Robert Kennicott is one dated Lake Winnipeg, June 6, mentioning
the dissection of a female of this species found to contain a
full-sized egg. A memorandum made by Mr. Ross, dated at Fort William,
May 15, speaks of this bird as abundant at Fort Simpson, from August
until November, the last having been seen November 10. One was shot,
June 2, on Winnipeg River, “a female, who was about to lay her egg.”
In regard to its distinct individual history but little is as yet
known. It was discovered and first described by the late Edward
Harris, of New Jersey, who accompanied Mr. Audubon in his expedition
to the upper branches of the Missouri River, and who obtained this
bird on the Yellowstone, about thirty miles above its junction with
the Missouri, on the 26th of July. He describes its notes as similar
to those of the common _atricapillus_, but less harsh and querulous,
and more liquid in their utterance. Subsequently specimens were
obtained by Mr. Kern, artist to the exploring expedition under Fremont
in 1846.
It is the largest species of this genus in America. In its
breeding-habits it is not different from the Eastern representatives.
Mr. B. F. Goss found this species breeding abundantly at Neosho Falls,
in Kansas. They nest in decayed stumps, hollow trees, branches, logs,
etc., after the manner of the _atricapillus_. The excavation is
usually ten or twelve inches, and even more, in depth. The nest is
warmly made of a loose soft felt composed of the fur and fine hair of
small quadrupeds, feathers, and the finer mosses.
The eggs, usually five, occasionally eight, in number, are of a
rounded oval shape, measuring .60 by .50 of an inch. They have a pure
dull-white ground, and the entire egg is very uniformly and pretty
thickly covered with fine markings and small blotches of red and
reddish-brown intermingled with a few dots of purplish.
Parus atricapillus, var. occidentalis, BAIRD.