pareaer 2 
DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED $51 
Nest: In an old woodpecker hole or natural cavity, 24 to 17 feet from 
the ground ; lined with cattle hair, fur, or wool. 
Eggs: 5 to 9; white, sometimes spotted with rusty around the larger 
end. Size 0.60 X 0.41. 
“Tr was a cheery chick-a-dee-dee that gave me my first 
introduction to this vivacious bird in the sierra, and 
when I later discovered a nest hidden securely in an old 
pine stub deep in the forest, I could not resist the 
impression that here indeed was contentment. Here, 
far from the habitations of man, and beside an aban- 
doned trail which had long since ceased to re-echo human 
footsteps, had settled a pair of Mountain Chickadees. 
No matter how fared their neighbors, and with no 
time to gossip with the shy warblers of their domain, 
these little birds seemed unconscious of all else save 
their piny mansion. 
“True, they were not fastidious, and had taken up 
housekeeping in old quarters; and their particular stub, 
with its deep-creased bark and rotten foundation, did 
not differ from a thousand other stubs which dotted the 
forest. But this stump, still capped by the winter’s 
snow, was destined to become the arena of intense 
activity with the advent of spring. 
“My first nest was found on June 11, 1898, as Mr. 
L. E. Taylor and I were walking along the stage road. 
An old spruce stub, about three feet high and nine 
inches through, stood near the road, and a two-inch hole 
in its top led down into the darkness. On scraping the 
stub a series of hisses came forth denoting young. We 
tore open one side of the stub and beheld a nest of nine 
young Chickadees ready to fly. They scrambled up the 
