1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 557 



wbicli some similar colored grass-tops are incorporated, giving the nest 

 a uniform light color, not unlike a very fine cup-shaped sponge. It is 

 lined with the extreme tops of grasses, also of a golden yellow tint, and 

 measures externally 2^ inches in width by 2i inches in depth. The 

 inner diameter is 2 inches by If inches. 



The material of which this nest is composed is totally different from 

 anything I have seen used in the nests of other species of this family 

 coming under ray observation, excepting the inner lining of the nest. 



The three eggs are ovate in shape, pure white in color, with little gloss, 

 sparsely spotted about the larger end with fine dots of a dark umber- 

 brown and brownish red color, and measure .72 by .53, .70 by .52, and 

 .69 by .52 inch. 



NO. 744. PSALTRIPARUS PLUMBBUS Baird. 



The Lead-colored Bushtit. 



Although this little Bushtit is a widely distributed species through- 

 out the West, and has been known to naturalists for more than thirty 

 years, nothing whatever has been i)laced on record respecting its nest- 

 ing habits. The credit for thediscovery of their nests and eggs belongs 

 to Lieutenant Benson, who found them breeding abundantly in the vi- 

 cinity of Fort Huachuca during the mouth of April, 1887. Their favor- 

 ite abiding places seemed to be along dry water-courses, up narrow 

 ravines, running into the mountains and on the tiats, covered with scrub- 

 oak, between the hillsides; he says that they arc exceedingly tame, per- 

 fectly unconscious of danger, and will work on their nests with a person 

 not 10 feet away from them. They are one of the first birds to arrive 

 in the spring, but are not resident throughout the year. 



The nests, of which a number are before me, are all more or less gourd- 

 like in form; that is, considerably narrower near the top than around 

 the bottom. They are not strictly pensile, but are woven into and sup- 

 ported by small twigs and branches of the oak bushes ( Quercus undulata ?) 

 in which they are built. Several nests were placed in bunches of a 

 species of mistletoe (probably Phoredendro)iJiaveseens),aud in these cases 

 the nests are supported and placed directly in the forks of this i)lant. 

 They vary in length from 7 to 9J inches and from 1 to 5 inches in diam- 

 eter. The entrance to the nest is on the side, near the top of the struct- 

 ure, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The inner cavity is 

 from 4 to 5 inches deep, and about IJ inches in diameter. The nests 

 are outwardly composed of the dried, curled-up leaves of the white sage, 

 plant-down of a pinkish tint, spider webs, small bits of mosses and 

 lichens, and are thickly lined inside with soft, small feathers. The walls 

 of the nest increase in thickness from top to bottom, so that while 

 near the top they are not over three-eighths of an inch through, near the 

 bottom they are fully Ih inches thick. The nests are placed in about 

 equal proportions in low oak bushes, from 5 to 7 feet from the ground. 



