THE OOLOGIST 



85 



pounds, fifty feet up in a tree so I fas- 

 tened myself on with a strap and start- 

 ed the ascent. About thirty feet up 

 a White-breasted Nuthatch flew out 

 of a knot-hole into my face and look- 

 ing in I saw seven pretty eggs, but as 

 they appeared very glossy and incu- 

 bated I did not disturb them. The 

 Woodpeckers hole faced southeast 

 and was bored straight in for four 

 inches and then down twenty-two 

 inches where it enlarged into a pear- 

 shaped cavity. Here lay the four eggs. 

 They would probably have hatched in 

 three more days but by great care and 

 the use of caustic potash, they were 

 saved as perfect specimens. 



Richard C. Harlow. 



Tufted Titmouse Notes. 



The Tufted Titmouse (Bacolophus 

 bicolor) is an abundant resident in 

 the woodlands of Harris County. 

 Texas, and a trip cannot be made in 

 such woodlands without seeing large 

 numbers of these birds in company 

 with Plumbeous Chickadees, as they 

 search through the tree-tops and 

 among the branches of the moss-cov- 

 ered deciduous saplings on the edges 

 of woods. 



As common as the Titmouse is dur- 

 ing the breeding season I had never 

 found a nest with a set of eggs. 



Indeed, in May, 1911, I had located 

 a nest of this bird high up in a dead 

 and swaying pine stump thirty feet 

 from the ground. But the trunk was 

 a good three feet in diameter and of- 

 fered very little hold. I buckled on 

 my climbers, but it was no use for 

 each time I socked my climbers in as 

 deep as I could I simply gouged out 

 large hunks of the rotten wood. The 

 birds evidently had young as I saw 

 them carry what appeared to be small 

 insects into the cavity. 



But on March 23, 1913, while out 

 for a day with the birds in company 



with Mr. C. L. Brock of Houston, we 

 happened to pass an old oak stump 

 some twenty feet high and one foot 

 in diameter, which was about a hun- 

 dred feet or so from the edge of a 

 strip of timber west of Houston. No 

 birds were in sight, so it was with 

 little hope that I climbed up and 

 searched each broken branch. The 

 tree was swaying with my weight and 

 I was preparing to climb down when 

 I heard a rustling in a stub of a five 

 inch limb. Pulling the bark away I 

 found a Titmouse setting in a small 

 natural cavity between the bark and 

 the solid wood of the limb. 



No manner of pounding would make 

 the bird leave the nest, so as a last 

 resort I stuck in two fingers and grasp- 

 ed her by the tail feathers and yank- 

 ed her forth. Before I could secure 

 a good hold on her she slipped from 

 my fingers. 



She lit on a pine branch about six 

 feet off and began a loud scolding and 

 calling and was soon joined by the 

 male. To make identification of the 

 set of eggs certain I called to Mr. 

 Brock and he secured the female with 

 a well directed load of mustard-seed 

 from my .22. Later examination show- 

 ed that she was a typical easterner 

 and not one of the many intermediate 

 so often run into in this county. 



Turning my attention to the nest, I 

 found that it was placed in said nat- 

 ural cavity about eleven inches from 

 the entrance; the branch was about 

 six inches long and the nest was thus- 

 ly seen to be about five inches into 

 the trunk of the tree, the wood of 

 which was very rotten. The nest was 

 a mass of various kinds of rubbish; 

 pieces of dead elm leaves, horse hair, 

 cast off snake skin, little chips of the 

 oak bark, pieces of dead grass, cow 

 hair, small green lichens, weeds, and 

 fine plant fibres were all thrown to- 

 gether with no sign of lining. The 



