Vol. V] TAYLOR— NEW SUBGENUS OF PHENACOMYS ^45 



9 STUDIES OF THE NEST 



(1) Altitude above the ground 

 The height of nests above the ground, varying as it does 

 from four feet to one hundred feet, testifies to the freedom 

 of movement of Phenacomys longicaiidiis in its arboreal habi- 

 tat. Wilder writes that he has found several nests low enough 

 in the trees to be reached from the ground. Shelton records 

 the examination of a nest a hundred feet up. In Clay's expe- 

 rience eight and 100 feet are the extremes, with the prevailing 

 height at 20 to 60 feet. Nests observed by our party ranged 

 in altitude from eight to 60 feet. 



(2) Position in trees 



A majority of the nests are located against or around the 

 trunks of the trees. All those observed by Shelton in Oregon 

 were situated next the trunk of the fir, where they were 

 securely supported by one or more branches. Wilder asserts 

 that in his experience most of the nests were located where 

 several limbs join the trunk, although where nests have been 

 found on large trees they have usually been near the ends of 

 lower branches and at no great height above the ground. 



Clay says that low nests are usually near the outer end of 

 a drooping limb, but agrees that most nests are placed near 

 the trunk of the tree. 



All nests actually examined by our party at Mendocino City 

 were built near the main trunk of the fir where a circlet of 

 branches joined the tree, although we noted at least two 

 nests on limbs several feet distant from the main trunk. In 

 several instances the nest was built all around the trunk, so 

 that the trunk actually traversed the center of the nest. 



(3) General size 



Todd (1891, p. 241) says the nests are about the size of 

 robins' nests, or even smaller. Shelton has examined a nest 

 only eight or ten inches in diameter, the largest nest he has 

 seen being about two feet in diameter by one in depth. Wilder 

 asserts that when the nests are new they are about the size 

 of a quart measure, old nests being larger, sometimes as large 

 as a peck measure. 



According to Clay the family nests were from nine to 12 

 inches in diameter in new structures, up to 30 inches or more 

 across and 12 inches or more deep, in the older ones. 



