GRAY-TAILED CARDINAL 19 



vary greatly, according to location; some are bulky, and others hardly 

 more than would answer for a Carolina Dove." 



George Finlay Simmons (1925) describes the nest, as observed 

 in the Austin region, as: "A loose, rather frail structm'e, composed 

 principally of dead leaves, cedar bark strips, and dead weed stems, 

 frequently containing Spanish moss, paper, green weed stems, grasses, 

 and grapevine strips, and occasionally a few slender twigs, Indian 

 tobacco, strips of dry corn shucks, straws, and pieces of rag. Lined 

 with fiberous rootlets and fine grass stems; less commonly with fine 

 weed stems, horsehair, grass, fine weed tips, and bits of straw." 



This cardinal is sometimes imposed upon by the bronzed cowbird. 

 Miss Mariana Roach of Dallas wrote me of a pair successfully 

 raising a cowbird, renesting a foot from her porch screen, abandoning 

 the nest with two eggs after she removed a newly hatched cowbird, 

 then nesting a third time 8 feet up in a cherry laurel tree, 2 feet from 

 her window. The parents successfully raised two young after laying 

 four eggs. Miss Roach found the first nest early in May. The birds 

 commenced to build the third nest on June 28; there were three eggs 

 in this nest June 30, and four the next day. At least two young 

 hatched July 13. One fledgling left the nest July 21, the other the 

 following day. The family remained together into August. 



Eggs. — The measurements of 40 eggs average 24.0 by 18.4 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes mesure 26.9 by 19.3, 24.9 

 by 19.8, 21.5 by 17.9, and 22.7 by 17.6 millimeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — The gray-tailed cardinal is resident from northern Texas 

 (Randall and Armstrong counties) and western Oklahoma (Ellis 

 County) south through central Texas and central and eastern Mexico 

 to Michoacan and Hidalgo. 



Egg dates. — Texas: 5 records, April 21 to May 7. 



RICHMONDENA CARDINALIS SUPERBA (Ridgway) 



Arizona Cardinal 



Habits 



In his original description (1885) Ridgway describes the southern 

 Arizona race of this species as: "Similar to C. cardinalis igneus, but 

 decidedly larger, and the female more richly colored." 



Later on (1901) he describes it as: ''Similar to C. c. cardinalis but 

 much larger, with relatively stouter bill; adult male paler red, with 

 black of lores not meeting across forehead ; adult female more deeply 

 colored than that of C. c. cardinalis — almost exactly similar in colora- 



646-737 — 68 — pt. 1 4 



