46 
THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
headed tit. A. flaviceps. Nor are the 
lines of geographical distribution less 
noticeable in other families of birds, 
the thrushes varying quite as dis¬ 
tinctly in different localities along the 
border. 
During this trip I saw more of the 
black-crested tit than on the former 
one, owing to my being more favorably 
situated to study it in its haunts. On 
arriving at Lomita, one t)f the first fa¬ 
miliar birds to greet me was this Tit¬ 
mouse. It was one of the very few 
birds of those found in numbers on the 
former trip, whose eggs I did not ob¬ 
tain, being successful only in discover¬ 
ing a nest with young. It was essen¬ 
tial to find its nests without delay on 
account of its commencing to breed 
earlier than any other species found in 
this locality. Orders were given to 
shoot none of this species, but to 
search diligently the trunks and stubs 
of trees for nests, in a few days, sev¬ 
eral nests were found, all containing 
young. It was a great pleasure to me, 
therefore, when, on Agril 20, my assis¬ 
tant, Mr. Sanford, placed upon my 
table a nest, five young, and a perfect 
egg of this species, together with the 
parent bird caught on the nest. The 
chicks I preserved in spirits; the egg, 
being infertile, was easily prepared; 
and both, together with the nest and 
bird, are in my collection. This, I be¬ 
lieve, is the first "thoroughly identified 
egg of this bird brought to scientific 
notice. The bird taken on the nest 
was a male, and other males were shot 
having bare and wrinkled bellies, 
showing that both sexes share in the 
incubation and care of the young. The 
nest was situated some six feet from 
the ground, in a hollow limb of a half¬ 
dead willow, which was leaning on 
some brush, and was discovered by the 
bird’s flying into its opening. It lay 
some ten or twelve inches from the 
opening, and is composed chiefly of 
wool intermixed with strips of soft 
inner bark, and now and then bits of 
snake-skins; the whole being much 
firmer and thicker than is usual with 
nests that are built in hollow stubs. 
All the other nests found with young 
were situated higher, with one excep¬ 
tion; the distance varying from four 
to twelve feet from the ground. I 
found them to occupy usually the 
abandoned holes of the Texas wood¬ 
pecker, Picus scalaris; but split forks 
of trees were sometimes put in use. 
They prefer living trees to dead ones, 
and in every case in my experience the 
opening had to be enlarged, sometimes 
with difficulty, before examination of 
the nest could be made. The localities 
mostly selected for nesting are groves 
or open timber free from undergrowth, 
whether in old lagoon beds, which re¬ 
ceive the overflow from the river, or 
on the driest knolls. They do not avoid 
human habitations, as two nests were 
found on the ranch in ebony-trees, near 
buildings much frequented. The par¬ 
ents guard their treasures well, and 
are much disturbed when the nest is 
invaded; though not until they see that, 
their nest is actually being handled do 
they give any cry of alarm, or other 
intimation of uneasiness than their 
near presence. 
Like all of their kind, these birds are 
very active and busy; but at the time 
of their rearing their young, I have sat 
and listened to the male well up in the 
tree above my head, singing his whist¬ 
ling refrain for an hour at a time. A 
nest near the house was laid open with 
broad cuts of an axe. and the young 
left fully exposed as on a shelf, but the 
old ones reared them safely, and I saw 
them take wing. 
The egg is rounded oval; but one end, 
being larger, has the appearance of 
being rounder than the other. The 
