194 



Vol. X 



AN UNUSUAIv NESTING IvOCAI^lTY FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN 



NUTHATCH 



By GEORGE RICHARDS 



WITH TWO PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 



AlyTHO but an amateur, I have like most other students my own idea con- 

 cerning the habits of certain birds. Having worked among the birds a few 

 years and found several nests of the Long-tailed Chickadee at an altitude of 

 less than 5500 feet, I thought nothing of them except as interesting nests, like 

 those of the other common birds. But when I became acquainted with a more 

 experienced bird student, and told him of these nests, he greatly doubted my iden- 

 tification, until this spring when he saw the nests and the birds and satisfied 

 himself as to their identity. 



I had come to the conclusion that, as the location was but ten miles from the 

 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains and streams thickly bordered -with cotton- 

 woods and willows flowed 

 from the canyons, the breeding 

 birds from higher altitudes 

 sometimes followed the 

 streams a short way out on 

 the plains and nested there. 



Therefore I was both pleased 

 and surprised when my brother 

 returned home. May 14, 1908, 

 with the news of having 

 found a nest of the Rocky 

 Mountain Nuthatch {S/tta 

 caroliiieiisis )ichoiii). But 

 again the practiced bird stu- 

 dent was skeptical and imme- 

 diately asked "to be shown." 

 When my brother first found 

 the 'nest he declared that he 

 saw both birds, male and female, carrying something into the hole which ap- 

 peared to be nesting material. The nest was visited the 15th, but nothing was de- 

 termined as to whether there were eggs or not. Thinking it too early for 

 eggs, the nest was not revisited for several days. Armed with a keyhole saw 

 and cameras, our next trip was made May 22nd and to my joy, and the astonish- 

 ment and dismay of the &gg collectors our ears were greeted with the squeaking 

 of hungry babes. Judging from the size of the youngsters on this date they were 

 undoubtedly hatched when the nest was first found, and what w^as thought to 

 be nesting material was in reality food for the young. 



There was only the female to be seen now. Where the male had gone was 

 hard to tell. The female was as tame as a chickadee, coming and going and feed- 

 ing her young, with the writer standing only a foot or so distant. She worked in- 

 cessantly, passing from nest to tree trunk, and, finding suitable food, at once re- 

 turning. She usually brought millers, which were common at that time of 

 the year. By actual count she visited the nest twenty-seven times in one hour, 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN NUTHATCH AT ENTRANCE TO NEST-CAVITY 



