578 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
It winters commonly in New Mexico throughout the length of the Rio Grande 
Valley from Espanola, 5,600 feet, on the north (Surber), to Mesilla, 3,800 feet, nearly 
at the southern boundary (Ford). In the Guadalupe Mountains several were seen 
at 4,500 feet January 15, 1915; [on the Rio Grande Bird Reserve an adult male was 
seen, December 8, 1916 (Willett).] It also winters at 4,000 feet on the Gila River 
(Stephens); at Las Vegas, 6,500 feet (Mitchell); and up to 8,000 feet at Arroyo Seco 
(Surber).—W. W. Cooke. 
Triangles mark breeding and probable breeding records 
Nest. —In old woodpecker holes, often in aspens and also about houses. Eggs: 5 
to 7, pale greenish blue. 
Food. —So far as known, over 90 per cent insects and less than 10 per cent 
of wild or waste fruit. The insects include small cicadas, cutworms, grasshoppers, 
locusts, crickets, ants, bees, wasps, caterpillars, beetles, and alfalfa weevils (one 
young bird had eaten 70 alfalfa weevil larvae). In the season of fruit and grain 
it subsists mostly upon insects and eats fruit and other vegetable food only in the 
