324 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pari- i 



light passes. The hiiing maybe of horsehairs when these are available. 



''Five or six days of leisurely work snfRce to complete the sliglit 

 structure." 



James C. Merrill (1879) reports two nests of Sharpe's seedeater 

 at Fort Brown, Tex., both in bushes, supported by twigs, and placed 

 3 and 4 feet from the ground. Of one of these he says: "It is a 

 delicate little nest, supported at the rim and beneath by twigs, and 

 built of a very fine, dried grass, with which a few horse-hairs, a leaf 

 or two, and a small rag are interwoven: it is 1.70 wide by 1.50 in 

 depth. Both these nests are open and transparent." 



Eggs. — Skutch (MS.) describes the eggs of this species as follows: 



"The eggs vary from pale blue to bluish white or pearl gray in 

 ground color and are finely mottled with light brown or chocolate, 

 the markings usually heaviest in a wreath about the thick end, but 

 by no means absent from the remaining surface. Some eggs bear 

 a few heavy blotches of black or deep brown in addition to the finer 

 and lighter flecking. The measurements of 13 eggs average 16.3 by 

 12.7 millimeters. Those showing the four extremes measure 17.5 by 

 12.3, 15.9 by 1S.5 and 15.5 by 12.S millimeters." 



The two sets of eggs in the Harvard Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology are ovate in shape. The ground is pale bluish white, and 

 they are profusely spotted and blotched with shades of "clove 

 brown," "seal brown," "light seal brown," "Rood's brown," and 

 "mummy brown," with undermarkings of "light mouse gray." 

 Some eggs are so heavil}'' marked that the spots almost obscure the 

 ground, and are confluent toward the top of the egg forming a solid 

 cap. 



The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.1 by 12.3 milhmeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.5 by 12.2, 15.7 by 

 IS. 5, 15.0 by 12.6, and 15.9 hj 11.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Skutch (MS.) writes: "Incubation is performed by the 

 female alone. In one instance, the eggs hatched in 13 days. The 

 nestlings are attended by both parents and remain in the nest 10 or 

 11 days." 



Davis writes to me of a nest that he found on June 10: "Four 

 seedeater eggs were being incubated along with two cowbird eggs. 

 Two of the seedeater eggs v/ere pushed far down into the nest material 

 by the cowbird eggs, and the latter were removed. The two young 

 hatched on June 12 and left the nest on June 20. Both parents 

 attended the young in the nest." 



Plumages. — Ridgway (1901) describes the young of morelleti (the 

 name then in use for this race) as follows: "Similar to the adult female, 

 but wing bars deep bufFy and plumage of a much looser texture." This 

 doubtless refers to the juvenal, or first, plumage. He goes on to say: 



