PARin.E — THE TITMirE. ^ 113 



four to six e<,'<^s. Tliese lie describes as liaviiii:, when fresh, a groimd-cohir 

 of ])ale ])lue, dashed all over with small hlack spots. 



J)r. Kennedy, in his lie]M)rt on the liirds of the Mexican I'xMindary Survey, 

 states that he met with this si)ecies in the vicinity of the llio (jrr.inde. They 

 were very wild, Hew rapidly, and to quite a distance before they alighted. 

 They seemed to frecjuent the low mezijuite-bushes on the hillsides. 



Mr. Xantus found this species, when he tirst arrived at San Lucas, on the 

 4th of April, with young binls already fully Hedgeil, although others were 

 still breeding and continued to breed until the miihlle of July. Two fifths 

 of all the eggs he collected that season, he writes, were of this species. This 

 may, however, have been in part owing to the conspicuous prominence of 

 their nests, as w^ell as to their abundance. Xantus found the nest in va- 

 rious positions. In one instance it was suspended from a leafless branch 

 not three feet from the ground, with its entrance nearly to the ground. In 

 another instance it was on an acacia twenty feet from the ground. For 

 the most part they are hung from low acacia-tre&s, on the extreme out43r 

 bmnches. In all cases the entmnce to the nest was from the lower end, or 

 towards the ground. 



Dr. J. G. Coojwjr, in liis History of the r>ird.s of California, speaks of find- 

 ing a large number of this beautiful little bird during the whole winter fre- 

 quenting the thickets of algarobia and other shrubs, and with habits inter- 

 mediate between those of Titmice and Warblers, corresponding with their 

 intermediate forin. Their song resembles that of the Chickadee, and they 

 also uttered a loud cry, as they sat on high twigs, with a triple lisping note 

 resembling tzec-tee-tee. Dr. Cooper found a pair building on the 10th of 

 March. They first formed a wall, nearly spherical in outline, of the thorny 

 twigs of the algarobia, in which tree the nest was usually built. They then 

 lined it with softer twigs, leaves, the do\vn of plants, and feathers. They 

 covered the outside with thorns, until it became a mass as large as a man's 

 head, or nine inches by five and a half on the outside. The cavity is four 

 and a half inches by two, with an opening on one side just large enough for 

 the bird to enter. On the 27th of March, Dr. Cooper found the first nest 

 containing eggs. These were in all instances four in number, pale blue, 

 w ith numei*ous small brown spots, chiefly near the larger end, though some 

 had very few spots and w^ere paler. Their size he gives as .60 by .44 of an 

 inch. In one nest, wiiich he closely observed, the eggs w^ere hatched after 

 about ten days* incubation, and in two weeks more the young were ready to 

 leave their nest. 



Subfamily SITTINGS!. 



The characters of the Sitting are expi-essed with sufticient detail on page 

 86. The section is represented in America by a single genus, confined 

 mainly to the northern portion. 



15 



