150 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



it SO abundaut as on the military reservation at Fort Brown. Here it 

 seems perfectly at home among the dense, tangled thickets, darting 

 rapidly among the bushes and creeping vines, an i is with difficulty 

 obtained. A rather noisy bird, its shrill cries usually first attract one's 

 attention to its presence. A Hummer's nest, undoubtedly made by this 

 species, was found in September, 1877, within the fort. It was placed 

 on the fork of a dead, drooping twig of a small tree on the edge of a 

 path through a thicket : it was about seven feet from the ground, and 

 contained the shrivelled body of a young bird. The nest is made of the 

 downy blossoms of the tree on which it is placed, bound on the outside 

 with cobwebs, and rather sparingly covered with lichens. Internally, 

 it is somewhat less than one inch in depth by one-half inch in diameter. 

 The external depth is one and one-half inch. 



Note. — Besides these two species of Hummers actually taken, I have 

 seen two others that are certainly new to our avifauna, but have not 

 been able to capture them. One of these is a large, green species, with 

 a long tail ; the other, a very small bird, of a deep purplish-brown color. 



126. Geococcyx californianus, (Less.) 



This curious bird is abundaut, and is a resident. Its food consists of 

 insects, field-mice, small snakes, and snails. Of these latter, one spe- 

 cies (a variety of Bulimulus alternatus) is very common, passing the dry 

 season on bushes and cacti, and of this the bird is very fond. Quite 

 large piles of the broken shells are constantly to be seen along the road- 

 sides about some fallen branch on which the bird breaks them. As a 

 rule, the "road-runner" is a silent bird, but occasionally it is heard to 

 utter one of two notes. One is a " IcooTc-Jcook-TcooJcJcooJc ^\ much like the 

 call of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but louder, and usually heard during 

 the breeding season. The other is a note of alarm or anger : it is a low, 

 growling sound, accompanied by a chattering of the bill. The nests are 

 usually placed in low, thorny bushes, and are thick, clumsy structures, 

 with but a slight depression for the eggs. The latter appear to be 

 deposited at intervals of several days, and a perfectly fresh egg is often 

 found with one on the point of hatching. I have never found more than 

 four eggs or young in one nest. — (Dressek, Ibis, 1665, 466. — Sennett, 

 B. Rio Grande, 36.) 



127. *Coccyzus americanus, (Linn.) 



Not uncommon summer visitor; breeding rather plentifully. — (Dres- 

 ser, Ibis, 1865, 467.— Sennett, B. Rio Grande, 38.) 



128. * Picus scalaris, Wagler. 



Common resident. In notes and habits, this little bird is so like the 

 Downy Woodpecker that there is little to be said about it. Eighteen 

 perfectly identified eggs now before me average .81 by .64, which is much 

 less than the measurements given in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, II, 

 519.— (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468.— Senne : t, B. Rio Grande, 38.) 



