18 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



Its haunts and habits seem to be similar to those of the Florida 

 cardinal. Bailey and Wright (1931), in southern Louisiana, "found 

 several nests in the low mesquite, and one was located within fifty 

 feet of the Gulf. The nest was made of grass and Spanish moss, and 

 was decorated with a big piece of snake skin. * * * Another nest 

 observed contained young, and the adults were feeding them on 

 cicadas." 



Eggs. — The measurements of 40 eggs average 24.8 by 18.5 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 27.9 by 18.2, 

 23.9 by 19.8, 21.8 by 17.9, and 24.0 by 17.5 millimeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — The Louisiana cardinal is resident in southeastern Texas 

 (Columbus, Beaumont) and southern Louisiana (Erwinville, New 

 Orleans) . 



Egg dates. — Texas: 14 records, April 10 to June 1. 



RICHMONDENA CARDINALIS CANICAUDUS (Chapman) 



Gray-tailed Cardinal 



Habits 



Dr. Chapman (1891), in naming and describing this Texas race, 

 gives its subspecific characters as follows: "Male similar to the male 

 of Cardinalis cardinalis, but with a less conspicuous black frontlet; 

 female averaging grayer than the female of Cardinal-is cardinalis, and 

 with the tail feathers broadly margined with gray instead of being 

 narrowly edged with olivaceous brown." Of the females, he says 

 further: "In some of the Texan specimens the gray color occupies 

 nearly all of both vanes of the median feathers, leaving only a narrow, 

 reddish shaft streak; in most cases the gray occupies all of the tip of 

 the feather, and when seen from below gives the appearance of an 

 irregular terminal grayish band." 



The haunts of this cardinal seem to be similar to those of the species 

 elsewhere, such as thickets, brushy places, and the shrubbery about 

 houses and gardens. It is an abundant and familiar bird, resident 

 throughout its range. 



George Sennett (1878) says that, about Brown ville: "We found 

 them quite common, yet very shy. A number of nests and sets of 

 eggs were obtained. They were generally taken in dense thickets, 

 some five feet from the ground; but we found one nest and two eggs, 

 seven feet from the ground, in a bushy tree; and another, only two 

 and one-half feet from the ground, in a thicket. * * * The nests 



