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Show 229 habits are a queer compound, and, though often suggestive of the Titmice, with which, too, its colors are somewhat correspondent, they yet resemble still more closely the Wrens, while the bird has characteristics borrowed from neither of its prototypes, but all its own. I first saw the species in July, in a tangled growth of vines and bushes, close to the seashore near Santa Barbara. So careful, however, were they to keep themselves close within the friendly shelter of matted undergrowth that, though I made out from their voluble sputterings that a whole family was there congregated, I was unable to push a very close acquaintance. Subsequently I found another group in a small cluster of willows that fringed a mountain- rivulet near Fort Tejon. A few faint, querulous, sputterings from the center of the clump first attracted my attention, and, sitting down, I awaited patiently till I could catch a glimpse of their authors. After a few moments farther silence on my part they began to approach nearer and nearer, till, ere long, I saw one little brown bunch of feathers balancing itself on the upright stem of a willow and peering cautiously about, all the while communing with itself and its fellows in quaint undertones. They appear to be fond of each others' society, and socially inclined toward other birds of very different habits, for I never saw or heard one without soon learning of the presence of others hard by, while, late in the fall, I often found several adding their quota to the flocks of Sparrows and Snowbirds in their journeyings through the chaparral thickets on the mountain- sides. They spend most of their time seeking food about the roots of bushes, and especially apt were they to be found in willow- clumps along the stream. Enough of their time is passed upon and near the ground to make the name of Ground Wren an appropriate one. No. 360 399 Sex. 9 ad. 400 9 ad. 688 1 < f 704 I rf ad. 705 O T Locality. do . . . . . . do Walker's Basin, Cal do do Date. Aug. 17 Aug. 19 Aug. 19 Nov. 10 Nov. 10 Nov. 11 Collector. H. W. Henshaw. .... do ........ ddoo . . . . . . . . . .. .... do .... do Wing. 1.87 9.43 8.40 Tail. 3.88 3.98 a. so 8.40 1 3.40 8.45 ! 3.73 8.35 3- 5fl ' BilL 0.40 0.48 0.40 0.43 0.43 0.43 Tarsus. too 11.. 0043 1.00 1.00 0.88 PARIM:.- TITMICE. 13. Lophophanes inornatus, ( Qamb).- Gray- tufted Titmouse. This species appears to be a resident throughout Southern California, and is numerous here, as indeed almost everywhere in the Tar West. No. Sex. Locality. Date. Collector. 146 849 864 tf Jan. d 353 ' tfjnn. 393 d" ad. 658 i 9 Santa Barbara. Cal. Ojai Creek, Cal Fort Tejon, Cal , do do do Walker's Basin, Cal June 89 July 17 July 87 Aug. 7 Aug. 10 Aug. 17 Nov. 5 H. W. Henshaw. Do. Do. Do. DoT Do. Do. 14. Parua montanus, Qamb.- Mountain Chickadee. This appears to be the commonest representative of its tribe in Southern California, inhabiting chiefly the coniferous regions, and rarely descending to the low country. The Parus occidentalis appears not to occur in the southern portion of the State; none at least were detected by us, nor do I find it quoted from this region. Its proper habitat is the Columbia River region and to the northward. No. 489 490 588 583 584 585 550 Sex. 9 9 9 Locality. Near Mount Whitney, Cal... do North Fork Kern River, Cal., do do do Near Mount Whitney, Cal..., Date. Sept 19 Sept 19 Oct 7 Oct 7 Oct 7 Oct 7 Oct 10 Collector. H. W. Henshaw. Da Da Da Da Da Da AP. J J- 15 |