June, 1881.] 
AND OOLOCJIST 
their place. The first two eggs measure 
2.26x1.79 and 2.24x1.89. The two last laid 
measure 2.17x1.74 and 2.15x1.70. In an 
interesting letter from Mr. Wm. Brewster, 
he speaks of a similar circumstance, where 
he found two eggs of B. Virginianus, be¬ 
neath a nest full of eggs of the sheldrake 
in a hollow stub, in the State of Maine. 
I think that there is no doubt but that the 
conclusion arrived at with regard to the 
above described eggs is correct, and that it 
was not a set of four eggs, but rather, two 
Best of two eggs each. C. A. Hawes, Boston. 
-- 
Verdin or Yellow Headed Titmouse. 
{Paroides Jlaviceps {Baird .)—I first met 
with this rare and interesting little 
mite of bird life on the Colorado de¬ 
sert, some 100 miles above Fort YTima. I 
was made aware of its presence, by finding 
several nests which had been latelj" deser¬ 
ted by the young. Later (about May 1st,) 
I found a nest with full fledged young, 
which fluttered away on my disturbing 
them. From this I infer that the first set 
of eggs is laid about the first week in 
April. Despite my careful search, I could 
then find no nest with eggs, although 
abandoned ones were not uncommon. The 
birds, too I seldom saw, but such I believe 
is their customary habit, to keep in retire¬ 
ment in the low' undergrowth. Three 
weeks later, in the vicinity of Tucson, A.T., 
I had the good fortune to find a new nest, 
(suspended in a small willow sapling) which 
contained four eggs about half advanced in 
incubation. The nest was a wonderful 
structure considering the size of the bird, 
scarcely larger than some of the larger 
humming-birds. It is in shape a perfect 
ball, about half the size of a man’s head, 
and composed of decomposed leaves, cot¬ 
ton-like fibre from the cactus and various 
soft fibrous vegetable matter, matted to¬ 
gether like felt cloth. Externally, rough 
and thorny twigs give a protection and 
form the frame work around which the nest 
is built. Internally it is literally one mass 
of feathers, lining completely, bottom, top. 
and sides. The entrance could be hardly 
detected, so small and well concealed was 
it by an overhanging twdg and protuber¬ 
ance of body of the nest. When found, it 
would hardly admit of the passage of a 
finger. The whole structure built so as to 
swing free to the breezes, was hardly cal¬ 
culated to withstand rough treatment or 
handling, and once detached from its sup¬ 
port w'as apt to fall to jiieces. The eggs, 
four in number in the only two nests I 
found, were all partly incubated, and were 
at least the full complement of those sets. 
In the first brood they may lay five. They 
are very delicate little eggs, measuring 
about .60 by .45 inches, and considerably 
tapering and pointed at the smaller end. 
The ground color is a pale delicate pea 
green, and the egg blotched all over wdth 
rather large markings of reddish brown, 
forming a ring around the large end. 
The situation varied exceedingly. Those 
nests found on the desert were all close to 
the ground, at the end of mesquite limbs, 
cr in a cactus, while those found near 
Tucson were some in cactus, some in low 
saplings and occasionally in mesquite 
trees, from 15 to 30 feet from the ground. 
The little birds, seldom seen,manifest their 
presence by angry and anxious calls to 
each other from surrounding brush or 
thickets. 
Never having observed the bird around 
Los Angelos or in any part of California, 
until on the desert near Arizona, I am in¬ 
clined to think they are confined to the ex¬ 
treme southern limits, extending into Mex¬ 
ico.—(1. Holterhoff, Jr., Los Angeles, Cal. 
While riding out over Laurel Hill this 
morning (May 29) we noticed a cat put its 
paw on a young robin, not with the inten¬ 
tion of injuring it, however, but at the in¬ 
stant it was done a robin came down with 
the speed of lightning and struck the cat on 
the head. We have been trying to solve 
the problem of which movement was the 
quickest, the coming of the robin or the 
leaving of the cat. 
