Nesting of the Tufted Tit in 1888. 



BY C. S. URIMLKr, RALEIGH, N. C. 



I found three nests of this species this year, 

 two containing eggs and one young. 'J'he two 

 fii'St I thought rather remarkable in situation 

 and so proceed to describe them. 



On April 28th, while looking for eggs in a 

 lai'ge tract of woods, I happened to look in a 

 hollow in a small dogwood, whereupon some- 

 thing squirmed and tried to hide Itself. On 

 further Investigation I discovered not a flying 

 squirrel, as 1 expected, but a Tufted Tit, which 

 I removed with some trouble and then collected 

 and packed a beautiful set of six eggs. The 

 opening of the hollow was about two feet from 

 the ground, and the hollow reached to the 

 earth, but for half the distance three sides of it 

 were gone. So the birds had piled up moss, 

 leaves, etc., from the ground right up into the 

 hole and then lined the nest at the top with 

 white cat fur and a few pieces of snakeskin, 

 the eggs being at least eighteen inches from the 

 bottom of the nest. 



My next nest contained young, and was in a 

 still more peculiar position. A dead birch limb 

 had rested in a live birch in a nearly upright 

 position until it was a mere hollow tube of thin 

 bark. The birds had appropriated this and as 

 in the other one, had piled up dead leaves, mosa 

 and dirt in the shell and then lined the top with 

 moss and lint cotton. This was found on May 

 15th. 



The third nest was found on June 8th in an 

 old apple tree and contained five eggs, slightly 

 incubated. The hole was about eleven feet 

 high and the nest about a foot deep inside. 

 It was composed of grass, green moss and some 

 snakeskin. Like the first, the bird had to be 

 pulled oflf her nest, and she also apparently 

 tried to break her eggs, which was also a char- 

 1 acteristic of the first one. 



i This concludes my experience with the Tuft- 

 ed Tit this year. Next year 1 hope to make a 

 nearer -quain^n^ giU^e.^and h^^^^ e^|s^ 



Eggs of the Tufted Tit. i 



In reading Mr. ,). 1'. N.'s description of a 

 series of eggs of the Tufted Tit {Lophophanes 

 Uailfir) I came across some sets described 

 from Wake Co., N. C, collected by us. In 

 this connection 1 wish to call attention to the 

 descriptions of set XXII, collected June 8, 

 1888, and set XVII collected May 2, 1889. In 

 each case it will be seen that the eggs were 

 very heavily spotted with burnt sienna, so as 

 to almost obscure the ground color at the 

 larger ends, and in each case one egg was 

 much less marked than tlie others. N"ow 

 these two sets were each taken from hollows 

 in old apple trees in the same orchard 

 many yards apart, and I presume were prob- 

 ably laid by tlie same pair of birds, though in 

 different years. C. S. Brimley. 



Raleigli, N. C. 



[I have always maintained that the same 

 bird always reproduces any peculiarity in the 

 markings of its eggs in subsequent sets, and I 

 am a firm believer in this theory. I may add 

 tliat the well-known oologist "J. M. W." 

 j (Mr. C. L. Eawson) fully agrees with me as to 



1 0*O,XVa I>©Cr 1890, p. /S 5 . 



1^ 



while I was unsuccessful, until on 

 ..'adiug out to an old rotten willow stand- 1 

 ing in a foot and a half of water, I could see 



some kind of a nest in an irregular hollow not 

 more than three feet high. On breaking out 

 the hole there appeared a mass of material 

 that looked like the commencement of a nest. 

 On carefully examining it I found that what 

 appeared like the foundation was really the 

 projecting side pulled over a completed nest 

 of Tufted Tit {Lo^)/(o/)/t_«ne.s- Ucolor), and 

 hidden in it were throe fresh eggs. 1 was 

 sorry to find the number so small but had to 

 take them after having got that far. This was 

 the lowest nest I have seen of this bird./ 



y?^, >2jg. ^/.;;,;^_^ 



