48 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



According to Grinnell and Linsdale (1936) it is resident "along the 

 west flank of the Sierra Nevada, at altitudes of 3,500 to 6,000 feet, ac- 

 cording to slope exposure and other factors." 



W. E. Griffee tells me that "the black-eared nuthatch, like the short- 

 tailed chickadee, is found throughout the pine forests of eastern Ore- 

 gon." According to Fred Mallery Packard (MS.), of Estes Park, 

 Colo., "in spring and fall, small bands of pygmy nuthatches wander 

 through the yellow pines, calling noisily ; but they scatter during the 

 nesting season and are seldom heard then. Nests have been found, 

 between June 5 and 18, at 8,200 feet, and it is certain that they nest 

 well into the Canadian zone. There is a vertical migration, sometimes 

 to the plains." 



Nesting. — It was on the summits of the Huachuca Mountains 

 that I made the acquaintance of the tiny black-eared nuthatch, then 

 known as the pygmy nuthatch. On these summits at elevations 

 between 8,000 and 9,000 feet, above the steepest slopes, the surface 

 of the gi'ound was nearly level in some places, or rollmg in gentle 

 slopes in others. It was covered with a fine parklike, open forest 

 of tall pines of two or three species that towered skyward to heights 

 of 80 or 100 feet. Scattered through this forest were a number of 

 tall dead pines and lower stubs. Here, on May 7, 1922, many of 

 the nuthatches were already paired and were busy with their prepara- 

 tions for nesting. The nesting holes were easy to recognize, as little 

 circular openings, usually near the tops of the dead pine stubs and 

 often under the stump of a branch. One nest that we investigated 

 was 30 feet from the ground in such a situation, but no eggs had been 

 laid in it. Another, similarly located, was not examined, as we were 

 apparently too early. My companion, Frank Willard, returned to 

 this locality on May 30 and collected three sets of eggs of this nut- 

 hatch, consisting of six, seven, and eight eggs, respectively ; the nests 

 were all in dead pine stubs, 20, 40, and 50 feet above ground; the 

 depth of one cavity, evidently excavated by the birds, was 10 inches ; 

 the nest lining consisted mainly of "pine bud hulls," with a few 

 feathers. 



Nests are not always placed at such heights above ground. In 

 the San Bernardino Mountains, at about 7,000 feet elevation. Dr. 

 Grinnell (1908) found a nest "in a rotten pine stub eight feet above 

 the ground. The cavity seemed to have been excavated by the birds 

 themselves. Two blows on the stub brought out the setting bird, 

 which at once disappeared. After a while what proved to be the 

 male nuthatch made his appearance with an insect in his mouth, 

 an indication that the male feeds the female on the nest. The nest 

 was a felted mass of rodent fur and plant down. There were seven 

 slightly incubated eggs." 



