DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED 345 



730. PYGMY NUTHATCH. — Sitta pygmosa. 



Family : The Nuthatches and Tits. 



Length: 3.80-4.50. 



Adults : Top of head olive-gray ; nape and chin white ; line through eye 



black ; upper parts bluish slate-color ; under parts pale grayish buffy, 



nearly white on upper breast. 

 Young : Similar, but wing-coverts edged with buff. 

 Geographical Distribution: Mountainous regions from British Columbia 



south to Mt. Orizaba, Mexico ; from the Rockies to the Pacific. 

 California Breeding Range: Local in Transition zone, chiefly in the 



southern Sierra Nevada and in. the Santa Cruz district. 

 Breeding Season : June. 

 Nest: In holes in trees, from 10 to 40 feet up ; lined with wool, cattle 



hair, and feathers. 

 Eggs: 6 to 9 ; white, speckled with reddish. Size 0.54 X 0.44. 



About Tallac on Lake Tahoe, as at most points in the 

 Sierra Nevada, these mites in gray scamper up and down 

 the tall pine trees, upside down or right side up, as the 

 case may be, — it is all one to them. In August and 

 September, when the clans gather after nesting time, the 

 trees seem to be literally alive with them. Their shrill 

 " wit-wit " is varied by a whistled trill, and when all the 

 flock is calling at once the combined noise resembles that 

 of a brood of young chickens. They move in crowds 

 from tree to tree, running over the trunks and branches, 

 searching every smallest crevice for bugs, and twittering 

 a low sweet monologue. The flocks keep together all 

 winter, and move down into the valleys as the cold 

 weather comes on and the food supply grows smaller. 

 In March the upward migration is begun again ; but 



