68 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



were reasonably abundant throughout the higher mountain area. 

 At this time they were just commencing to nest and only one set of 

 eggs was taken, consisting of three eggs." 



Col. John E. Thayer (1911) seems to have published the first de- 

 scription of the nest and eggs of the San Lucas robin. His collector, 

 Wilmot W. Brown, sent him two sets of three eggs each with the 

 nests. They were taken in the Sierra de la Laguna on July 5, 1910. 

 One was placed "in an Oak tree at the juncture of a limb with the 

 trunk, about 40 feet from the ground." The other was placed "in 

 an Oak, on a horizontal limb, about thirty feet from the ground. 

 * * * The two nests are fine specimens. They are built of dried 

 grass, weed stalks and lichens, neatly held together with mud. * * * 

 Both these nests are much better built than any Robin's nest I have 

 ever seen." 



I have examined these two nests and can find no evidence of mud 

 in their construction, except in the bases where there is some muddy 

 moss and mud picked up with the decayed rubbish used as foundations; 

 there is no mud visible in the sides or rims, as usually the case with 

 northern robins' nests. The same is true of the two nests referred 

 to below. 



The dimensions of Thayer's nests are approximately as follows: 

 Height, 4 inches; outside diameter, 5 inches; inner diameter, 3% 

 inches; inside depth, 2){ inches. 



Another nest, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, was taken 

 by Mr. Brown in the same locality on June 28, 1913; it was placed 

 near the end of an oak branch 40 feet above ground; this is a beautiful 

 nest, mainly like the others in construction, but larger and more 

 elaborate; the foundation is a great mass of coarse and fine lichens, 

 coarse and woody weed stems, and the flower stalks of everlasting, 

 which are carried up into the rim of the nest; it is neatly lined, as are 

 the others, with very fine yellow grasses; it measures 6% by 7 inches 

 in outside diameter, and the inner cavity is 3% inches in diameter. 



There is a nest of the San Lucas robin, in my collection in Washing- 

 ton, that was taken by Mr. Brown on June 13, 1912, at 6,000 feet 

 altitude in the Sierra de la Laguna; it was placed near the end of a 

 branch of a mountain oak, about 20 feet from the ground; it is similar 

 in construction to those described above. 



Eggs. — All the nests referred to above contained three eggs, which 

 seems to be the usual number for the San Lucas robin. These are 

 much like the eggs of the eastern robin, varying in shape from ovate 

 to elongate-ovate, with a tendency to be somewhat pointed; they are 

 only slightly glossy. 



The color does not vary much from "pale Nile blue," and there are 

 no signs of markings. The measurements of 19 eggs average 30.3 by 



