1885.] Batchelder, Winter Notes from New Mexico. T -7 



for my evil doing. Possibly sympathy for their companion was 

 not the only cause of their excitement, for an unsuccessful shot 

 aroused a great deal of noise among them for a few moments. 



In their habits and notes the Slender-billed Nuthatches seemed 

 to differ in no way from S. carolinensis, except that their cry 

 was more plaintive and querulous, and lacked the resonant twang 

 of the eastern bird. 



The Mountain Chickadees behaved much like P. atricafiillus, 

 but their motions were quicker, and they seemed more restless, 

 seldom staving long in one spot ; and, perhaps for this reason, 

 they did not appear to be as tame. Their notes are quite similar, 

 but by no means identical. They have a ftk6-be much like that 

 of the Blackcap, but feebler, harsher, and without its melodious 

 qualities. They utter a dee-dee that is weaker and less resonant 

 than the corresponding notes of P. atricapillus. and a chiffk-a- 

 chei-chee much like the other's c/u'ck-a-dee-dee, but like their 

 other notes differing 1>\ being rather feebler and harsher. 



The Gairdner's Woodpeckers were not abundant. Besides 

 those met with in company with the Nuthatches and Chick- 

 adees on the hills, I saw only two others. These were among 

 the low willows bordering the river below the mouth of the 

 canon. However, they were commoner than Harris's Wood- 

 pecker (Picks villogus /tarn's/'), of which I saw not more than 

 two or three altogether. They were on the highest parts of the 

 hills, and were solitary birds. The only other Woodpecker met 

 witli was Colaptes nicxicaniis. which, though more numerous 

 than Harris's, was far from abundant. 1 saw perhaps half a 

 dozen during my three week's stay, all of them on the hills. 



The diet of most of these birds included hut a small proportion 

 of insects. An examination of the stomach of every indi- 

 vidual shot showed that both species of Nuthatches fed chiefly 

 on vegetahle substances, probably the seeds of the pines. They 

 ate sparingly of insects, but the frequent presence of gravel in 

 their stomachs showed that their habitual food was vegetable. 

 In Parns jnotitaiuis every stomach examined contained seeds or 

 other vegetable substances, and in nearly every case some gravel. 

 In two out of five there were some insects in addition to the 

 other food. Even the Creepers ate more largely of seeds than ot 

 insects, ami a Harris's Woodpecker had filled his stomach with 

 fragments apparently either of pifion seeds or acorns, with the 

 addition of but a few insects. Whether this diet was due to 



