34 NESTS AND EGGS OF N. A. BIRDS. 



themselves in the dead portion of a low stump or sapling, some- 

 times only a few feet from the ground, but not unfrequently at the 

 height of thirty or forty feet. Both birds are said to work in con- 

 cert with great earnestness for several days, until the hole, which 

 is round, and not larger at the entrance than the body of the bird, 

 is dug ten or twelve inches deep, widening at the bottom. The 

 eggs, according to Mr. Audubon, are laid on the bare wood. This, 

 however, is probably not their constant habit. The eggs, from four 

 to six in number, and not much larger than those of the Humming- 

 Bird, have a white ground, thickly sprinkled with fine reddish-brown 

 dots. They are said to raise two, and even three broods in a season. 

 According to observations of the late Dr. Gerhardt of northern 

 Georgia, the Brown-headed Nuthatch breeds in that part of the 

 country about the 19th of April. 



The eggs of this Nuthatch are of a rounded oval shape, measur- 

 ing .60 by . 50 of an inch. Their white ground-color is so complete- 

 ly overlaid by a profusion of fine dottings of a dark purplish-brown 

 as to be entirely concealed, and the egg appears almost as if a uni- 

 form chocolate or brown color." — Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's 

 N. A. Birds, vol. i, pp. 122, 123. 



54. SITTA PYGM.^A. 



PIGMY NUTHATCH. 



' ''This diminutive species of Nuthatch is found throughout our 

 Pacific coast and on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, 

 from Washington Territory to Southern California. * * * 

 Nests of this bird obtained near Monterey appear to be as well 

 made as those of any of this genus, lining the cavity in w*hich they 

 are placed and conforming to it in size and shape, the materials suf- 

 ficiently interwoven to permit removal and preservation, and warm- 

 ly constructed of feathers, wool, vegetable down, hair and the silky 

 efflorescence of seeds. Their eggs, seven in number, resemble 

 those of the S. canadensis^ but are of smaller size and a little more 

 pointed at one end. Their ground-color is crystalline-white. This 

 is covered more or less thickly with red spots, most numerous at 

 the larger end. Their measure varies from .65 by .50 to .60 by .47 

 of an inch." — Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's N. A. Birds, vo1_ 

 I, p. 120, 121. 



