BIRDS OF THE REGION 161 



The little gray verdins, unique in habits as well as in 

 markings, with yellow face and reddish brown shoulders, 

 live all the year round in the valley and canyons of the 

 cave region, sleeping at night during the winter in their 

 warm, feather-lined nest in a thorn bush, and feeding 

 either on insects or berries as the season provides, — 

 true desert dwellers with no fear of heat, cold, or thirst. 

 Their globular, covered nests, woven of small and often 

 thorny sticks, are placed in catsclaw, allthorn, blue- 

 thorn, or some other of the spiniest bushes of the region, 

 where they are comparatively safe from attack or in- 

 jury. The nests are entered by a side door, and in 

 contrast to their bristling outside armor, are lined with 

 feathers and the softest and warmest materials. They 

 serve for winter beds and as a refuge from cold winds 

 and storms, as well as affording protection to the deli- 

 cate eggs and young in spring. The every-day and 

 all-the-year habits of these tiny denizens of the deserts, 

 if well known, would make a fascinating chapter on 

 desert life. 



Western ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets 

 migrate up and down the mountain slopes, and are 

 comtnon in the canyons in April. They breed high 

 up in the mountains of the state. 



Western gnaicatchers were noted in some of the nearby 

 canyons, and probably breed here, as this is within 

 their breeding range. 



A Sierra hermit thrush was collected in April in the 

 next canyon over the ridge irom the cave, but the 

 thrushes here are migrants on their way to their higher 

 mountain breeding grounds. 



