518 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
summer); iris brown or blackish or pale yellow or yellowish white (sometimes present 
only as an outer ring and concealed by eyelids—Ridgway). Young • Similar, but 
with less brown on the sides of the head. 
Range. —Upper Sonoran Zone of arid interior from eastern Oregon and western 
Wyoming south to western Texas, northern Sonora, and southeastern California. 
State Records. —The low r er and middle parts of the mountains are occupied 
by the Lead-colored Bush-Tit, which extends east to the Guadalupe Mountains 
(Bailey); Salinas Peak (Gaut); Montoya and Mesa Yegua (Bailey); Santa Fe 
(Henshaw); Camp Burgwvn (Anderson); Hondo Canyon and Culebra Mountains 
(Bailey); and Oak Canyon (Howell). It breeds from as low as 4,600 feet in the 
junipers at Santa Rosa (Bailey); to 7,000 feet at Fort Wingate (Henshaw); 7,400 
feet at Glorieta (Bailey); and 8,000 feet on the summit of the Big Hatchet Moun¬ 
tains (Mcarns). (It, is most abundant at 6,000 feet (Ligon, 1916-1918).] Eggs were 
taken on April 24, 1885, at Silver City (Marsh); and young found in the nest on 
May 22, 1892, on the summit of the Big Hatchet Mountains (Mearns); while at 
Santa Rosa, June 5, 1903, some birds were still nest-building. [A freshly built 
nest was found in Garden Canyon a mile or so from the Carlsbad Caves, April 
10, 1924 (Bailey); and a nest was found May 17, 1917, at Chloride, at 6,200 feet, 
with seven well incubated eggs (Ligon). Two nests were found near Hondo 
Canyon, 5 to 6 miles southeast of Santa Fe, one with six heavily incubated eggs, 
May 24, 1924, and one with six young ready to fly, June 6, 1924; another nest with 
six fresh eggs was found about 3 miles south of Santa Fe, May 4, 1926 (Jensen).] 
After the nesting season, the species assembles in flocks and roams the moun¬ 
tain sides to Oak Canyon, in the Ratons, September 5, 1903 (Howell); to 7,700 
feet near Taos, September 22, 1903 (Bailey); to 7,600 feet in the Big Hatchet 
Mountains (Goldman); to 8,000 feet in Arroyo Hondo, August 13, 1904 (Gaut); 
and to 9,000 feet on a local hot s!oi>e among the nut pines and junipers in the 
Costilla River Valley, August 25, 1904 (Bailey). 
During the winter it descends to Shiprock, 5,000 feet, February, 1907 (Gilman), 
and to Redrock, 4,000 feet on the Gila River (Goldman). It was common in flocks 
at 6,500 feet near Cienequilla, February 15, 1904 (Surber); in the Guadalupe Moun¬ 
tains at about 6,500 feet, January 13, 1915 (Willett); and at 6,000 feet on Salinas 
Peak of the San Andres Mountains December 15, 1902 (Gaut). Itremains through 
the winter at this same altitude at Silver City (Hunn) and Fort Webster (Henry).— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —(In Chisos Mountains, Texas) 12 to 15 feet from the ground, in a nut 
pine, a greenish gray bag 6 or 8 inches long, made of lichens, oak leaves, oak flowers, 
and catkins, woven with cocoon silk. Other nests, built in junipers, cottonwoods, 
etc. Eggs: 4-6, white. 
Food (of California Bush-Tit). 1 —Insects and spiders that live on trees make 
up four-fifths of its food, and most of these are harmful.' Bugs make 44 per cent 
of the whole, mainly plant-lice and bark-lice or scales (notably the large black 
olive scale)—the most destructive to fruit trees. Codling moth larvae are also 
eaten. Its vegetable food is of almost no economic importance. Bush-Tits are 
a valuable asset and should be protected and encouraged In every way (Beal). 
General Habits. —Except when nesting, the diminutive Lead- 
colored Bush-Tits always seem to be seen in passing, for they go about 
in flocks through the nut pines, junipers, and other trees and bushes 
of the low country, calling as they go. This constant calling, like that 
1 Beal, F. E. L., Birds of California in Relation to the Fruit Industry, Biol. Surv., U. S. Dept. 
Agr., Bull. 30, 74-80, 1907. 
