One of these birds kept in confinement by Dr. Bachman of Charleston was in the habit of hiding its food in the corner of its cage, in a small crevice, and of creeping at night into a small box, where it lay doubled up like a ball till the first light of the morning, when it resumed its restless habits. The Tufted Titmouse passes its nights and days, when the weather is inclement, in the hollows of decayed trees or the deserted holes of the woodpeckers. In such places it also builds its nests. It has been known to excavate a hole for itself even in hard sound wood. Its nest is simply a rude lining of the selected cavity, composed of various soft and warm materials. In this are deposited from six to eight eggs. But a single brood is raised in a season. The young birds, as soon as they are fledged, hunt in company with their parents, and remain associated with them until the following spring. The eggs of this bird have a length of .75 of an inch and a breadth of .56. They are of a rounded oval in shape, and are thickly sprinkled with fine rust-colored dots, intermingled with a few larger markings of lilac, on a white ground. Lophophanes atricristatus, CASSIN. BLACK-TUFTED TITMOUSE; TEXAS TITMOUSE. _Parus atricristatus_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. V, 1850, 103, pl. ii (Texas). _Lophophanes atricristatus_, CASSIN, Ill. Birds Texas, etc. I, 1853, 13, pl. iii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 385; Review, 78.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 43. SP. CHAR. Crest very long and pointed (1.25 inches). Above ash-colored. A broad band on the forehead dirty white, rest of head above, with crest, black, tinged with ash on the sides. Color of the back shading insensibly into the dull ashy-white of the under parts. Sides of body pale brownish-chestnut. Female with the crest duller black. Iris dark brown. Length, about 5.25 inches; wing, 3.00. HAB. Valley of Rio Grande, south, into Mexico. San Antonio. Texas. Vera Cruz, SCLATER. This species is not rare in Texas, where it has been noticed as far east as San Antonio. HABITS. So far as known, the Black-crested Titmouse is restricted in its distribution to the valley of the Rio Grande, including portions of Mexico and Western Texas. It was first met with in the latter State by John W. Audubon, and described by Mr. Cassin in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy.