844 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 37 paet 2 



Possibly he was beginning to buUd a new nest, but I was not able 

 to find one. 



Nesting. — The nest of Red and Yellow when I found it April 15 

 contained three eggs and one tiny nestling. Made of interlaced 

 strands of grasses secured to upright stalks of Distichlis, it was almost 

 globular with an opening on one side somewhat toward the top. Its 

 bottom was about eight inches above the ground, which was covered 

 by about an inch of water. The same day I found another nest of 

 similar construction, its bottom about nine inches above the barely 

 submerged ground. This nest was fastened between three upright 

 Avicennia shoots at the border of a patch of these mangroves 2)2 to 3 

 feet high. It contained four downy young an estimated three days 

 old. 



The literature contains few reports of nests. Kopman (1915) 

 mentions finding "a nest on Battledore Island [La.], July 23, 1908, 

 containing four young a few days old. It was built of grass and the 

 opening, on one side, was rather large. It was four feet from the 

 ground in Avicennia nitida, a bush that is common along the coast." 

 In a salt marsh south of Houston, Simmons (1915) flushed a seaside 

 sparrow "from a nest on the moist ground in a clump of thick grass. 

 The nest was composed of coarse dry grasses, lined with finer, and 

 contained three well fledged young. The nest was not a domed struc- 

 ture, but was more on the order of nests of the Florida Red-wing 

 (Agelaius phoeniceus floridanus) which surrounded it, for some of the 

 nesting material was entwined about the stalks of the grass. Inside, 

 the nest measured two and a fourth inches in diameter by one and a 

 half deep. Both parents were present, and though nervous were not at 

 all shy, for they approached within tliree or four feet of us, perching 

 for a moment on one reed and then on another." Although little 

 information is available on number of broods or span of breeding 

 season in Jisheri and sennetti, these races probably resemble pelonota of 

 the northeastern coast of Florida, which Nicholson (1946) found laid 

 three and perhaps four clutches between AprU and August. 



Eggs. Limited data suggest that eggs of Jisheri and sennetti are 

 essentially like those of the nominate form and other races of the sea- 

 side sparrow. The clutch size is usually three or, more commonly, 

 four. The length of the incubation period apparently has not been 

 determined. 



The measurements of 16 eggs oi Jisheri average 20.4 by 15.4 milli- 

 meters; those showing the four extremes measure 21.5 by 15.3, 20.8 by 

 15.8, and 18.7 by 14-7. The measurements of 16 sennetti eggs average 

 20.4 by 15.7 millimeters; those showing the four extremes measure 21.9 

 by 16.1, 19.0 by 15.0, and 20.1 by 16.5 millimeters. 



