_Ægithalus flaviceps_, SUNDEVALL, Ofversigt af Vet. Ak. Förh. VII,
v, 1850, 129. _Psaltria flaviceps_, SCL. P. Z. S. XXIV, March,
1856, 37. _Psaltriparus flaviceps_, SCL. Catal. Am. Birds, 1861,
13, no. 79. _Paroides flaviceps_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 400,
pl. liii, fig. 2. _Auriparus flaviceps_, BAIRD, Review, 1864,
85.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 51. _Conirostrum ornatum_, LAWRENCE,
Ann. N. Y. Lyc. May, 1851, 113, pl. v, fig. 1 (Texas).
SP. CHAR. Above cinereous; head, all round, yellow; lesser
wing-coverts chestnut; beneath brownish-white. Length, 4.50 inches;
wing, 2.16; tail, 2.35.
HAB. Valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado; Cape St. Lucas.
[Line drawing: _Auriparus flaviceps._
6764]
HABITS. This new and interesting little species was first added to our
fauna by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, only a year after its first description
as a bird of Mexico. Notwithstanding the abundance in which it has
been in certain localities, less has been developed in regard to its
habits and specific characteristics than we seem to have had a right
to anticipate.
It was found in Western Texas, in Mexico, in the lower valleys of New
Mexico and Arizona, and is very abundant at Cape St. Lucas. Of the
eighteen species of birds found by Mr. John Xantus breeding in the
last-named locality, this one was regarded as the most abundant. In a
letter from that gentleman, written in August, 1859, he mentioned that
he had collected over one hundred eggs of this species, during that
season, in the immediate vicinity of Cape St. Lucas.
[Illustration: _Auriparus flaviceps._]
Dr. Heermann, in his report on the birds observed in Lieutenant
Williamson’s explorations, states that he first discovered this
species in Southern California, at the terminus of the Mohave River.
Owing to their extreme wildness, he was not able to obtain any
specimens. In searching for their food, he states that they often
remained suspended with their backs downward, after the manner of the
Titmice. He found their nests quite abundant, though from the lateness
of the season few of the birds were remaining, in the neighborhood of
Fort Yuma. Dr. Heermann describes their nests as spherical, formed of
twigs, and having the entrance on one side. The interior was lined
with down and feathers, and contained usually from four to six eggs.
These he describes as having, when fresh, a ground-color of pale blue,
dashed all over with small black spots.
Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the Birds of the Mexican Boundary
Survey, states that he met with this species in the vicinity of the
Rio Grande. They were very wild, flew rapidly, and to quite a distance
before they alighted. They seemed to frequent the low mezquite-bushes
on the hillsides.
Mr. Xantus found this species, when he first arrived at San Lucas, on
the 4th of April, with young birds already fully fledged, although
others were still breeding and continued to breed until the middle of
July. Two fifths of all the eggs he collected that season, he writes,
were of this species. This may, however, have been in part owing to
the conspicuous prominence of their nests, as well as to their
abundance. Xantus found the nest in various positions. In one instance
it was suspended from a leafless branch not three feet from the
ground, with its entrance nearly to the ground. In another instance it
was on an acacia twenty feet from the ground. For the most part they
are hung from low acacia-trees, on the extreme outer branches. In all
cases the entrance to the nest was from the lower end, or towards the
ground.
Dr. J. G. Cooper, in his History of the Birds of California, speaks of
finding a large number of this beautiful little bird during the whole
winter frequenting the thickets of algarobia and other shrubs, and
with habits intermediate between those of Titmice and Warblers,
corresponding with their intermediate form. Their song resembles that
of the Chickadee, and they also uttered a loud cry, as they sat on
high twigs, with a triple lisping note resembling _tzee-tee-tee_. Dr.
Cooper found a pair building on the 10th of March. They first formed a
wall, nearly spherical in outline, of the thorny twigs of the
algarobia, in which tree the nest was usually built. They then lined
it with softer twigs, leaves, the down of plants, and feathers. They
covered the outside with thorns, until it became a mass as large as a
man’s head, or nine inches by five and a half on the outside. The
cavity is four and a half inches by two, with an opening on one side
just large enough for the bird to enter. On the 27th of March, Dr.
Cooper found the first nest containing eggs. These were in all
instances four in number, pale blue, with numerous small brown spots,
chiefly near the larger end, though some had very few spots and were
paler. Their size he gives as .60 by .44 of an inch. In one nest,
which he closely observed, the eggs were hatched after about ten days’
incubation, and in two weeks more the young were ready to leave their
nest.