TITMICE, CHICKADEES: VERDIN 
517 
The nests were mainly the inconspicuous greenish gray of the blue 
thorn. Two disused nests brought to camp and carefully examined 
showed a three-fold structure made with great skill. The outside shell 
of the handsome ball was made of thorny zizyphus, or zizyphus and 
catsclaw twiglets, while the inner nest was made of mesquite or catsclaw 
leaves, leaf stems, and sometimes catkin stems, remarkably felted 
throughout with spider web; the nest chamber in turn being lined 
thickly with feathers, in one case mainly quail but some chicken, 
making in all a large handful (1923c, pp. 20-21). 
In the mesquite and screw-bean thickets of the Colorado desert, 
Mr. Gilman thought both the male and female built roosting nests. 
Two were usually found near together, those of mated birds he infers, the 
nest builders having failed to grasp the advantages in labor and warmth 
of one family roof tree. The nest of the male, he states, is smaller, 
less elaborate, and less thoroughly lined than that of the female, whose 
winter nest differs but little from her breeding nest (1902, pp. 88-89). 
The Verdins appear to be paired off in February, Doctor Grinnel. 
finds, each pair having “a particular beat or forage area, focusing at 
one or more nests.” 
These little desert birds would seem almost independent of water, 
nests having been found at least ten miles from any known water. 
The question is whether by means of 
their insect food and berries they are 
made largely independent of other liquid. 
Easy to watch, from unobtrusive 
distance, these charming little birds are 
among the most interesting and attrac¬ 
tive in New Mexico, offering the patient 
observer rich rewards of pleasure and 
new material. As Mr. Bailey says, “The 
every day life and all-the-year habits of 
these tiny denizens of the desert, if well 
known, would make a fascinating 
chapter on desert life” (1928a, p. 161). 
Additional Literature.—Bailey, F. M., 
Condor, XXV, 20-21, 1923 (nests). 
BUSH-TITS: Subfamily Psaltriparinae 
LEAD-COLORED BUSH-TIT: Psaltriparus 
plumbeus (Baird) 
Description. — Length: About 4.1-4.6 
inches, wing 2-2.1, tail 2.3-2.5, tarsus .6-.7. 
Adults: Upperparts plain olive-gray or smoke-gray , wings and tail darker, 
with light gray edgings; sides of head brown; underparts pale gray (whitish in mid- 
From HandbouK of Western Birds 
Fia. 90. Nest of Bush-tit (PsaZ- 
triparus minimus) 
A large nest and its small tireless 
builders 
