MEXICAN (YELLOW-EYED) JUNCO 1129 



of these juncos nine feet up in a small oak tree alongside a well-used trail. The 

 nest was placed on a small branch and against the trunk. The bird flushed 

 as I passed. During the years from 1910 to 191G a pair also built in a small 

 Spanish bayonet which grew beside a trail at Berner's in Ramsay Canyon of the 

 Iluachuca Mountains. When cats were introduced at this place, they made 

 short work of this pair. 



Veghte (MS.) writes: "The four nests I located were all on the 

 ground; one was cleverly hidden under a small log, another was 

 partially concealed by a stone, a third was beneath a large piece of 

 yellow pine bark, the fourth hidden under several grass clumps. 

 The nest is built entu-ely by the female. I saw one male bird pick 

 up a few pine needles and fly toward the nest, but he dropped them 

 before reaching it. 



"The first stage in nest building is hollowing and shaping the bowl. 

 The female scratches the ground with her feet and bill and carries the 

 undesu*ed dirt away from the immediate nest site in the biU. She 

 then shapes the hoUow with her body to the proper size and shape 

 before she starts to line it. These preliminary operations may extend 

 over 2 or 3 days. Building the nest itself may take another 5 or 6 

 days. The outer cup is generally made of coarse grass stems inter- 

 mixed with a few strands of moss. This, in turn, is covered with 

 fmer grasses. The final inner cup is a Iming of soft deer hair. A few 

 horse hairs and a bit of gray fur were in one nest. The average 

 outside diameter of the bowl is 6)s inches, bowl depth averages 1 to 

 l^s mches, and the nest cup diameter is 4}s inches. After the nest 

 is completed, 2 or 3 days usually elapse before the first egg is laid." 



Eggs. — The Mexican junco lays thi^ee or four, and sometimes five 

 eggs. They are ovate and slightly glossy. The ground is grayish- 

 white, or very pale bluish-white with spots and specklings of yellow- 

 browns such as "sayal brown," "pecan brown," and "huffy brown," 

 with undermarkings of "pale mouse gray." The spottings may be 

 scattered over the entire egg, but more frequently are concentrated 

 toward the large end where they commonly form a wreath. The 

 markings may be either dark and sharply defined or didl and somewhat 

 blurred. The eggs of this species are indistinguishable from those of 

 Junco caniceps. The measurements of G5 eggs average 19.9 by 15.1 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 33.1 by 15.0, 

 19.5 by 15.S, 18.3 by 14.6, and 20.5 by 14-2 millimeters. 



Young.— W&ghie (MS.) notes: "Incubation lasted 15 days at one 

 nest I watched and was by the female alone. Although the male 

 takes no part in incubating, he joins the female in the burden of 

 feeding the young as soon as they hatch. 



"At hatchmg the young have gray down on their capital tract and 

 on part of the spinal tract on the lower part of the back, also smaller 

 amounts of down on the lower portion of the ventral tract and on the 



