THE LEAST BUSH TITMOUSE. $$ 



35. THE LEAST BUSH TITMOUSE. 

 PSALTRIPARUS MINIMUS {Tozvns.^ Bf. 



This also is a bird of the Pacific coast, where it is resident 

 in the mountains, breeding along the canon streams, and also 

 coming into the village gardens. It makes an astonishingly 

 large nest for such a mite of bird life, — a purse six to nine 

 inches deep, a beautiful specimen of which is before me, col- 

 lected at Santa Cruz, Cal. It is made of moss, shreds of grass, 

 leaves, inner bark and lichens, and having much down within, 

 but no feathers. The walls are very thick, compact and mat- 

 ted. This structure hangs by the contracted rim of the mouth 

 at the top — where the elastic aperture is hardly half an inch 

 wide — from a forked twig only a few feet above the ground. 



One given Audubon by Nuttall was composed externally of 

 moss, lint, lichens, and fibrous roots, so interwoven as to present 

 a smooth surface, with a few stems of grasses and feathers in- 

 termingled. The lining was of willow-down and a great 

 quantity of feathers. Hanging this purse among the twigs at 

 the extremity of a branch, the bird makes concealment by 

 weaving into it, or grouping around it, the pendent leaves. 

 The entrance is sometimes at the side rather than at the top. 



The eggs run from six to nine, and difler from those of all 

 the rest of the family in being spotless ivhitc with a smooth 

 but not shining surface; they measui'e about .57 by .42 of an 

 inch. Dr. Cooper mentions finding a newly built nest at San 

 Diego, Cal., as early as March when the birds had separated 

 into pairs, though the flock did not seem to scatter far dur- 

 ing the breeding season; again, he found eggs ready to hatch 

 in the same locality on May 9, and various dates in April are 

 recorded. Nuttall says they had hatched in Oregon by the 

 middle of that month ; yet Dr. Cooper found eggs fresh at San 

 Francisco on Mav 15. Perhaps two broods are raised. These 

 tits are fearless and vmsuspicious in their ways. 



