BLACK-EARED NUTHATCH 49 



Irene G. Wheelock (1904) writes: 



At Lake Tahoe a hollow post several feet out in the water held a uest of 

 these gray midgets, the entrance being a crevice scarcely large enough for 

 a mouse. Both birds worked busily carrying feathers into this crevice until 

 it seemed there must be at least a peck of them tucked away inside. Although 

 I stood in a boat with hand resting on the post not a foot from their doorway, 

 they came and went as unconcernedly as if no one were within miles of them. 



* * * Another nest found, June 14, ten feet from the ground in a dead 

 pine was also entered through a crevice; the birds displayed the same 

 fearlessness, going inside with food, while the bird-lover stood on her horse's 

 back and tried to make the opening large enough to admit a friendly though 

 curious hand. The brave little bird would light on the trunk just above the 

 nest hole, and, running quickly down, dodge in when the fingers of the in- 

 vestigator were pulling at the crevice. 



Another nest near Lake Tahoe is reported by Claude Gignoux 

 (1924), in "a hole about 10 feet from the ground in an upright post. 



* * * The nest, entered by a small, irregular orifice, was in a 

 decayed portion of the pole, where excavation was easy. * * * 

 The pole in which the nest was placed stood at the junction of two 

 board walks, not over 20 feet from an occupied cottage. People 

 were passing every few minutes, workmen were repairing a drain 

 and board walk within 100 feet, and automobiles were being repaired, 

 moved about, and their engines raced by mechanics, within 50 or 75 

 yards. The adult birds were so intent upon their duties [feeding 

 their young] that none of these activities disturbed them." 



There is a set of eggs in the J. P. Norris collection taken from a 

 deserted woodpecker's hole, one from a hole bored by the birds in 

 a Cottonwood tree, and another from "under loose bark on a dead 

 tree". Probably any suitable cavity that is available may be 

 occupied. 



From the mountains northeast of Silver City, N. Mex., J. S. Ligon 

 wrote to Mrs. Bailey (1928) in April 1919, as follows : "I watched two 

 of these little fellows laboring at a nest hole 18 feet up in a dead pine. 

 One was inside, making the noise of a woodpecker. I watched the 

 performance for about 10 minutes, during which time it made three 

 trips out to the entrance to fling the chips and dust to the wind with a 

 quick shake of the bill. It came out apparently to rest and the other 

 went quickly in, and after it had hammered a little, came up with its 

 cuttings, flinging them away and quickly returning. On the 18th or 

 19th, it seemed that all the Pygmies, as if by general order, were 

 working in nest holes." 



Mr. Griffee writes to me that the nests of this nuthatch, in eastern 

 Oregon, "usually are in ponderosa pine snags. The larger snags, after 

 being dead for several years, have a layer of punky sapwood, 3 or 4 

 inches thick, and deep season checks which need only a little enlarging 



