Sep., ?9o? [ THE CONDOR ?3 that the core of the stub had rotted out to a depth of t?velve inches. The en- trance was perhaps two inches in diam- eter, but the nesting cavity had evi- dently been enlarged. At the bottom about two inches of soft, stripped spruce bark had been placed for a foundation and on this rested two inches of fine, soft, matted fur, much of which had been gathered from some luckless squir- rel. This made an extremely warm and downy nest for the young, and the labor of bringing such a mass of mater- ial into tile stub is worth contemplat- ing. The illnstration shows very well the nest after one side had been removed, although but one of the six young chickadees secured a "full length" portrait. On June 8, x899, Mr. H. W. Carriger found a nest of this species in a pine stub four feet up, holding seven newly- hatched young. The nest was of shredded cedar bark and squirrel fur. This nest was located in the deep pine- woods. When we camped on a beautiful mountain meadow at 7,5oo feet in June, i9oo, the Mountain Chickadee did not desert us. The meadow was damp, and frosty nights were the rule, yet 'al- most the first bird that greeted us on our first morning in the meadow was little Parus in a tamarack near the cabin. Presently he flew down to the base-boards of the cabin and peered in- quiringly into a rough hole which some woodpecker had probably drilled in previous years. Then he was off and a peep into the hole disclosed tile fe- male bird setting complacently on an exquisite nest and eight eggs. The domestic affairs of this pair of birds would no doubt have proven pro- ductive of many interesting observations and photographs had we been permit- ted to tarry, but such an arrangement was out of the question. So I con- eluded that the set was my lawful prey because I was ordinarily some 2oo miles from the Sierra, while to the chickadees the matter of producing a second set xvas one of small moment and the additional practice of nest- building would be beneficial, tho' I doubt if they ever again build quite so unique a nest as was this one. The nest had been built on a joist under the cabin in a space ten inches long and seven and a half inches wide. This had been filled with cow-hair, squirrel fur and hemp picked up from about the dairy, and when the nest was removed it presented a solid mat 2 inches thick and of the dimensions given. Near the center of the mat a round cavity 2 inches across and x inches deep held the eight eggs. Of these one was spotted, one had a trace of markings while the other six were pure white. The set was but slightly incubated when collected on June ?o, i9oo. During our stay on the.meadow Mr. Atkinson found a nest just finished in a tamarack stub, but no eggs had been deposited. During May of the same year Mr. Taylor found a nest located in a rotten cavity of a large .tree trunk by the roadside near Fyffe. On June 6, of the present year while at Fyffe Mr. Taylor and I noticed a Mountain Chickadee enter a deserted woodpecker's hole in a large burnt stump eight feet from the ground. Upon opening the nest eight fully- grown young chickadees flew out one by one while both parents anxiously watched the proceeding from a nearby bush. On June xo at Slippery Ford we found another nest in a black-oak snag on a hillside. The stump was about six feet high and a hole in the top served as an entrance to the nest. As in. all previous cases the parent bird in the nest gave vent to a series of hisses which might easily have been taken for those of a snake had we not known the contents of the cavity. This nest held small young but we could not deter- mine the size of the brood. The above nesting records cover per- haps the range of nesting-sites selected by this chickadee and the sets of eggs vary apparently from seven to nine,
