358 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



PARUS GAMBELI ABBIREVIATUS (GrinneU) 



SHORT-TAILED CHICKADEE 



Plate 55 



HABITS 



The 1931 Check-list gives the range of this race of the mountain 

 chickadee as "higher mountains of central and northern California, 

 southern Oregon, and northwestern Nevada south to Mt. Sanhedrin 

 and Mt. Whitney." It thus occupies a range intermediate between 

 the ranges of three other races, but it does not seem to be intermediate 

 in characters and is therefore a good subspecies. Dr. Grinnell (1918) 

 gives its characters as "tone of color on sides, flanks and back the same 

 as in inyoensis, though not quite so pale, namely, in fresh plumage, 

 cartridge buff. Tail much shorter than in either gamheli or inyoensis; 

 and bill averaging smaller than in any of the other three races." 



W. E. GrifTee writes to me that "this chickadee is common through- 

 out the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine country of eastern Oregon, 

 particularly in the lodgepole areas." 



As to their haunts in the Lassen Peak region, Grinnell, Dixon, and 

 Linsdale (1930) state: "In the higher portions of the section chickadees 

 were observed to frequent lodgepole pines, white firs, hemlocks, yellow 

 pines, and junipers. At lower altitudes, in winter, the birds were ob- 

 served also in blue oaks and valley oaks. Wherever found, this bird 

 foraged about the ends of branches and over twigs in the outer parts 

 of the foliage of the trees. Apparently the more open portions of the 

 woods, or their marginal portions, were most favorable for the species." 



Nesting. — The same authors report several nests found in the above 

 region. Most of the nests were in low stumps in clearings, in open spaces, 

 or on the edges of the woods, either in natural cavities of crevices or in 

 rotting or burnt stubs, so that in most cases the birds had little or no 

 excavating to do. Two nests were in old woodpeckers' holes. Most of 

 the nests were less than 2 meters above the ground ; the lowest was 

 only 165 millimeters up ; and the highest was nearly 5 meters from the 

 ground. The only lining mentioned was rabbit fur. 



Chester Barlow (1901) found a nest under the baseboards of a 

 cabin in which he was camping. The bird had entered through a rough 

 hole in the boards, and "the nest had been built on a joist under the 

 cabin in a space ten inches long and seven and a half inches wide. 

 This had been filled with cow-hair, squirrel fur and hemp picked up 

 from about the dairy, and when the nest was removed it presented 

 a solid mat 2^ inches thick and of the dimensions given. Near the 

 center of the mat a round cavity 2J^ inches across and 1 ^ inches deep 

 held the eight eggs." 



