DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED = 345 
730. PYGMY NUTHATCH. — Sitta pygmea. 
Famity: The Nuthatches and Tits. 
Length : 3.80-4.50. 
Adults : Top of head olive-gray ; ape and chin white ; line through eye 
black ; upper parts bluish slate-color ; under parts pale grayish buffy, 
nearly white on upper breast. 
Young: Similar, but wing-coverts edged with buff. 
Geographical Distribution: Mountainous regions from British Columbia 
south to Mt. Orizaba, Mexico ; from the Rockies to the Pacifie. 
California Breeding Range: Local in Transition zone, chiefly in the 
southern Sierra Nevada and in the Santa Cruz district. 
Breeding Season: June. 
Nest: In holes in trees, from 10 to 40 feet up; lined with wool, cattle 
hair, and feathers. 
Eggs: 6 to 9; white, speckled with reddish. Size 0.54 X 0.44. 
Apovut Tallac on Lake Tahoe, as at most points in the 
Sierra Nevada, these mites in gray scamper up and down 
the tall pine trees, upside down or right side up, as the 
case may be, —it is all one to them. In August and 
September, when the clans gather after nesting time, the 
trees seem to be literally alive with them. Their shrill 
“ wit-wit ” is varied by a whistled trill, and when all the 
flock is calling at once the combined noise resembles that 
of a brood of young chickens. They move in crowds 
from tree to tree, running over the trunks and branches, 
searching every smallest crevice for bugs, and twittering 
a low sweet monologue. The flocks keep together all 
winter, and move down into the valleys as the cold 
weather comes on and the food supply grows smaller. 
In March the upward migration is begun again; but 
