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California Bush-Tit

These little birds rank next to the hummingbirds as being the smallest birds found in our country. Diminutive as they are, being but four inches long, half of which length is comprised in the tail, they fashion beautiful hanging nests that are bulky enough for birds four times their size. These purse-shaped nests, constructed of mosses, lichens, plant fibres and feathers, and with the entrance a little hole on one side near the top, vary in length from six to sixteen inches.

In southern California, the birds are quite common but, because of their small size are not as apt to be noticed as are the nests that hang conspicuously from the branches of many of the oaks. Nimble as our chickadees are, their acrobatic feats are more than equaled by those of this tiny creature which delights in whirling about tiny branches or dropping from one to another while upside down. Their diminutive forms and gray color make them very. inconspicuous and their weak voices are not likely to cali attention to them as they industriously search thickets and foliage of large trees, ridding them of quantities of little pests.

Fig. 168. Female Golden-winged Warbler returning to her nest. She was very tame and I made 8 negatives of her but unfortunatelg all except this were "light-struck."