422 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



whole mountainous part of the State, and records it at various elevations 

 from 4,600 to 8,000 feet. Although this titmouse is said to occur in 

 the Chiricahua Mountains, in southern Arizona, we did not see it there, 

 or anywhere else in that region ; it is apparently a rare bird in Arizona. 



Nesting. — The nesting habits of the gray titmouse seem to be similar 

 to those of its California relatives. It nests in woodpecker holes and 

 natural cavities in trees and stumps, or in bird boxes. W. E. GrifFee 

 writes to me: "My experience with this titmouse was limited to the 

 spring of 1934 when, while living at Albuquerque, N. Mex., I put up 

 a string of nesting boxes in the junipers and pinyon pines of the Sandia 

 Mountain foothills, 20 miles east of Albuquerque. Evidently the birds 

 were very common, because early in the season I procured four sets of 

 eggs from the 25 or 30 (out of 50) boxes, which wood-chopping Spanish 

 Americans had failed to find and knocjc down. Bottoms of the boxes 

 were covered with a mixture of grass, bark strips, and dirt. A heavy 

 lining of rabbit fur, rodent hair, etc., was well cupped to receive the 

 eggs. Incubating birds sat tightly, almost like chickadees, and were 

 difficult to flush, even after the tops of the boxes were removed." 



Eggs. — ^What eggs of the gray titmouse I have seen are indistinguish- 

 able from those of the plain titmouse, as they might be expected to be. 

 Mrs. Bailey (1928) calls them "plain white"; probably many eggs and 

 even full sets of eggs are entirely unmarked. The measurements of 40 

 eggs average 17.5 by 13.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four ex- 

 tremes measure 19.1 by 14.0, 18.4 by 14.2, 16.0 by 14.0, and 18.4 by 

 12.9 millimeters. 



Behavior. — Henshaw (1875) writes: "Its habits much resemble those 

 of its eastern congener (L. hicolor). It spends much of its time on the 

 ground, searching for insects, and quite likely the piiion nuts and ac.orns 

 may, during the fall and winter, fonn a part of its food, though I have 

 never seen them pay any attention to these. It has much curiosity, 

 and, though somewhat timid, will occasionally remain within easy dis- 

 tance of an intruding person ; keeping a careful watch upon his motions, 

 uttering its harsh, scolding notes, expressive alike of anger and fear. 

 It has, in the early summer, a short, disconnected song, which, however, 

 is often sweet and pleasing. I have never seen more than three or four 

 together, even in the fall ; but, in every company of the other Titmice, 

 Warblers, or Bluebirds, a few of this species is always found." 



Voice. — Although the notes of the gray titmouse, as well as all its 

 habits, are similar to those of the species elsewhere, I am tempted to 

 quote the following attractive account from the pen of Mrs. Florence 

 Merriam Bailey (1928): 



fin thel low sumiy groves the wayfarer hears many of its small notes, de- 



