NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 42S 



is six inches long. Prof. Bvermann says that the nests vary all the 

 way from four to twenty-two inches in length. 



From five to nine pure white, unmarked eggs are laid, commonly 

 six or seven. Ten eggs out of a number collected by Mr. R. B. Her- 

 ron in San Gorgonia Pass in May, measure .51 x .40, .53x .40, .51 x .39^, 

 .54 x .40, .55 x .41, .56 x .41, .54 x .41, .55 x .43, .54 x .44, .54 x .42. 



744. Psaltriparus plumbeus BAIRD. [48.] 



The Lead-colored Bush-Tit. 



Hab. Rocky Mountain district, from Western Colorado and Wyoming Territory to Eastern Oregon 

 and Western Nevada, south to Southern New Mexico and Arizona 



The following is Captain Charles B. Bendire's account of the nest- 

 ing and eggs of this species : 



"Although this little Bush-Tit is a widely distributed species 

 throughout the West, and has been known to naturalists for more than 

 thirty years, nothing whatever has been placed on record respecting 

 its nesting habits. The credit for the discovery of their nests and eggs 

 belongs to Lieutenant Benson, who found them breeding abundantly 

 in the vicinity of Fort Huachuca during the month of April, 1887^ 

 Their favorite abiding places seemed to be along dry water-courses, up 

 narrow ravines, running into the mountains and on the flats, covered 

 with scrub-oak, between the hill-sides ; he says that they are exceed- 

 ingly tame, perfectly unconscious of danger, and will work on their 

 nests with a person not ten feet away from them. They are one of the 

 first birds to arrive in the spring, but are not resident throughout the 

 year. 



u The nests, of which a number are before me, are all more or less 

 gourd-like in form ; that is, considerably narrower near the top than 

 around the bottom. They are not strictly pensile, but are woven into* 

 and supported by small twigs and branches of the oak bushes (Quer- 

 cus undulata?} in which they are built. Several nests were placed m 

 bunches of a species of mistletoe (probably Phoredendron flavescens)^ 

 and in these cases the nests are supported and placed directly in the 

 forks of this plant. They vary in length from 7 to 9^ inches and from 

 4 to 5 inches in diameter. The entrance to the nest is on the side,, 

 near the top of the structure, about three-quarters of an inch in diame- 

 ter. The inner cavity is from 4 to 5 inches deep, and about i y 2 inches 

 in diameter. The nests are outwardly composed of the dried, curled- 

 up leaves of the white sage, plant-down of a pinkish tint, spicier webs,, 

 small bits of mosses and lichens, and are thickly lined inside with soft,, 

 small feathers. The walls of the nest increase in thickness from top 

 to bottom, so that while near the top they are not over three- eighths 

 of an inch through, near the bottom they are fully i^ inches thick. 



