DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED 355 



the birds themselves, although so small, have all the 

 independent airs of that pest. Some one has very aptly 

 described them as " balls of gray down with a tail stuck 

 in." Fascinatingly fluffy mites they are, busy all day 

 long with their own affairs, ridding the trees of scales, 

 insect eggs, bark lice, and many other injurious forms of 

 insect life. They are constantly in motion, hanging head 

 down under the slender twigs, chickadee-fashion, picking 

 at every crevice in the bark and every fold of a leaf-bud, 

 if perchance a bug lie hidden there, and many a tree 

 owes its good condition to their industry. 



The nesting habits of this species are very like those of 

 the Californian bush-tit. Among the underbrush of dry 

 watercourses or on oak-covered hillsides you will find 

 their gourd-like nests, usually pensile but often nestled 

 among the thick twigs of a bunch of mistletoe. Wild 

 blackberry vines, also, are favorite nesting sites. Wher- 

 ever the pinkish gray cradle may swing, the jolly little 

 housekeepers are friendly and fearless. You may watch 

 them at a distance of three or four yards without pro- 

 ducing the slightest interruption in their work. When 

 the young are out of the nest and sitting like wee gray 

 puff-balls in unwinking silence in the bushes, the adult 

 will feed them when you are only two feet away ; and 

 fully fledged young may, with infinite patience, be coaxed 

 to perch on twigs held in your hand. 



These queer little gray elves endure cold that would 

 kill many a larger bird, and are as lively in the winter as 

 in the summer. Almost as soon as the last brood is 

 reared, they join the flocks of their neighbors and forage 



