WESTERN PAINTED BUNTING 155 



Florence M. Bailey (1928) states the nest is located in hackberry, 

 cat-claw, or chaparral, about six feet from the ground, made of grasses 

 and sometimes leaves, lined with finer grasses and hairs. There may be 

 four or five eggs. Practically all of the vegetable food is weed seeds, 

 two-thirds of it being seeds of foxtail grass. The measurements of 

 seven eggs, furnished by E. N. Harrison, average 19.1 by 14.9 

 miUimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 20.0 by 

 15.0, 18.6 by 15 J, 18.3 by 14.8, and 18.4 by U.5 millimeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas to Panama. 



Breeding range. — The western painted bunting breeds from south- 

 eastern New Mexico (Mesilla, Carlsbad), central Oklahoma (Blaine 

 County, Oklahoma City), and central eastern Kansas (Solomon, 

 Lawrence) south through western and central Texas to southern Chi- 

 huahua (Camargo), southern Coahuila (Hipolito), and southern Texas 

 (Edinburg, Victoria). 



Winter range. — Winters from central Sinaloa (San Lorenzo), San 

 Luis PotosI (Xilitla), and central Tamaulipas (Victoria) south through 

 Mexico (exclusive of the Yucatan Peninsula), and Central America to 

 western Panama (Chiriqui). 



Casual records. — Casual in California (Tia Juana River Valley), 

 Oregon (Malheur National Wildlife Refuge), Arizona (Nogales, 

 Huachuca Mountains, Chiricahua Mountains), and Colorado (Denver). 



Egg dates. — Texas: 39 records, March 28 to July 26; 22 records. 

 May 21 to June 10. 



TIARIS BICOLOR BICOLOR (Linnaeus) 



Bahama Black -faced Grassquit 

 Contributed by James Bond 



Habits 



Black-faced grassquits are among the most characteristic and 

 familiar birds of the West Indies and are also known from the extreme 

 northern portion of South America. They are lacking, however, 

 from any part of the mainland of Cuba. Seven subspecies are 

 recognized, of which the nominate race is confined to the Bahama 

 Islands and cays off the northern coast of Cuba. 



The first North American record of this species was a female of 

 the Bahaman race collected at Miami on Jan. 19, 1871, by H. W. 

 Henshaw. It was found in bushes bordering a clearing near the old 

 fort. Maynard (1874) gives the following vivid account of the taking 

 of this specimen. 



