TITMICE, CHICKADEES: VERDIN 
515 
State Records. —The lower parts of southern New Mexico constitute the 
northern limit of the range of the Verdin in the State. [Fairly common in the 
Rio Grande Valley as far north as San Marcial, in the Tularosa Valley to Alama- 
gordo, and in the Pecos Valley to Carlsbad (Ligon 1916-18).] It is non-migratory 
and has been found north to the Gila (Stephens); Apache (Anthony); Mesilla Park 
(Merrill); Cuchillo Spring, Sulphur Pass in the San Andres Mountains, east of 
Cutter, nesting June 13, 1913; Tularosa Flats, and west side of Sacramento Moun¬ 
tains a few miles west, of Cloudcroft 6,400 feet, June 17, 1913 (Ligon); Carlsbad 
Bird Reserve, January, 1915 (Wilbtfc). 
Young in the nest were noted on June 2, 1876, on the Gila (Stephens); and old 
birds still feeding young July 26, 1901, at Carlsbad (Bailey). [A nest on Cuchillo 
Creek, 2 miles east of Cuchillo, May 25, 1917, had three fresh eggs (Ligon).]— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In thorny bushes, mesquite, cholla cactus, catselaw, all thorn, or blue 
thorn, globular, about the size of a large cocoanut; entrance often through slanting 
neck on one side; made of small sticks, thorny twigs, coarse grass stems, leaves, 
and weeds, thickly lined with feathers and down. Eggs: Usually 4 or 5, bluish or 
greenish white, speckled and sometimes blotched, chiefly around larger end with 
reddish brown. 
General Habits. —In the valleys and canyons of the Carlsbad 
Cave region, as in other parts of southern New Mexico, Mr. Bailey 
found the delightful little Verdin, “a true desert dweller with no fear 
of heat, cold, or thirst,” living all the year around, sleeping on cold 
winter nights in its warm nest and feeding on insects or berries as the 
season provided. 
In the desert brush above the Pecos, near Carlsbad, we found two 
young birds—lacking the yellow head and chestnut shoulder patch of 
the adults—chasing each other around and around an interesting old 
nest. Their call notes as they skipped about switching their tails 
were surprisingly loud, suggesting a finch or some larger bird. Young 
birds, when seen in Lower California by Mr. Huey, following their 
parents about, were “ begging, with high-pitched voices , for food” (1927, 
p. 37). 
At Mesilla Park, where the little yellow head breeds sparingly, 
Professor Merrill says it nests along arroyos on the mesa, in Apache 
plume, and in Condalia bushes. 
Like the Cactus Wren and the Western Winter Wren, the Verdin 
builds roosting winter nests. In Cactus Wren and Verdin country in 
southern Arizona, out of fifteen Verdin nests that I found in one small 
tract, ten showed signs of winter occupation and nine were found to 
contain roosting birds, the small occupants being flushed at intervals 
from 4.28 p. m. until after sunset, at various dates from December 9, 
1920, to March 13, 1921. Two of the little birds seen going to their 
nests went half an hour or more before sunset, when it was light enough 
to be seen by Sharp-shinned Hawks and any other too observant 
neighbor. But in these nests and others examined in the vicinity the 
