_Parus carolinensis_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 474, pl. clx.—IB.
Birds Am. II, 1841, 152, pl. cxxvii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
392; Review, 81.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 13, no. 81. _Pœcile
carolinensis_, BON. Consp. 1850, 230.
SP. CHAR. Second quill appreciably longer than secondaries. Tail very
little rounded. Length about 4.50 inches; wing less than 2.50; tail,
2.40. Back brownish-ash. Head above, and throat, black, separated on
sides of head by white. Beneath white; brownish-white on sides. Outer
tail-feathers, primaries, and secondaries, not edged with white.
HAB. South Atlantic and gulf region of United States, north to
Washington, D. C., Texas and the Mississippi Valley; north to Central
Illinois; the only species in the southern portion of the latter State.
This species is, in general, rather smaller than _P. atricapillus_,
although the tail and wing appear to be of much the same size. The
body and feet are, however, smaller, and the extent of wing is three
quarters of an inch less. The bill is apparently shorter and stouter.
The primaries are proportionally and absolutely considerably longer
than the secondaries in the present species, the difference being .55
of an inch, instead of .45. The tail is rather more rounded, the
feathers narrower.
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.
Parus rufescens, TOWNS.