The Pygmy Nuthatches 
hollow was thus a feather-lined shaft, with the nest proper built up half 
way from the bottom. 
The second set, taken on the 2nd of June, 1913, at an elevation of 
6000 feet in the San Jacinto Mountains, came from a naked stub of black 
oak. An inquiring rap on the trunk had brought the excited mistress 
from a hole 15 feet up. But she returned almost immediately and no 
amount of disturbance at the foot of the stub would induce her to feint 
or loaf around for photographic purposes. I suspected young and so dug 
in with proper precautions for restoring the front wall if necessary, 
but Wind instead only an empty cavity six inches deep. Upbraiding 
myself for a dub, I descended in a daze, wondering how an excavating 
bird could have been so fearless and so persistent. Once on the ground 
again, however, I saw the 
back of the cavity, which in 
my strained position in the 
tree I had not seen. Midway 
there was another entrance 
to an inner chamber. Wil¬ 
liam, my assistant, went up 
and developed it, reporting 
first two eggs, then four, 
then six. Inasmuch as the 
position was very straining, 
he retired and left me to 
finish. As soon as I put my 
fingers under the nest to lift 
it a deluge of eggs poured out. 
The nest was so thin that the 
bottom fell out when it was 
touched. Fortunately, a 
detaining chip poised on edge 
prevented the oval cascade 
from rushing down into the 
hollow of the tree which now 
yawned below. I worked my 
handkerchief in to reinforce 
the chip, and managed to lift 
the fallen eggs one by one, 
four of them, unbroken. It 
was a delicate task, for my 
sartorius muscles, by which 
alone I retained my hold on 
Taken in the San Jacinto Mountains Photo by the Author 
“A NAKED STUB OF BLACK OAK” 
THE FEMALE NUTHATCH MAY BE SEEN JUST ABOVE THE ENTRANCE HOLE 
650 
