GRAY KINGBIRD 37 



of this species in Georgia was the discovery of a nest and three eggs 

 on July 3, 1938, by Don Eyles and Ivan R. Tomkins, on the grounds of 

 the Quarantine Station, at the mouth of the Savannah River. It is 

 recorded by Eyles (1938). He was under the impression that there 

 were no former records of the nesting of this species in the State, 

 for he states this in his account. He was also either unaware of or 

 ignores the Hoxie sight records. The young of the above nest suc- 

 cessfully hatched, and photographs of them were taken. The Quar- 

 antine Station is on Cockspur Island and virtually on the South 

 Carolina line. 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The gray kingbird lays usually three or 

 four, perhaps rarely five, very handsome eggs. They vary from ovate 

 to elliptical-ovate, less often elongate-ovate, and they are only 

 slightly glossy. The ground color varies from "seashell pink" to 

 pale "salmon-buff." The eggs are irregularly but rather profusely 

 spotted and blotched with dark, rich browns, "chocolate," "burnt 

 umber," "claret brown" or "cinnamon-brown," and with shades of 

 "Quaker drab," "brownish drab," or "lavender." The measurements 

 of 60 eggs average 25.1 by 18.2 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 27.5 by 18.8, 25.7 by 19.4, 22.6 by 17.5, and 22.9 by 

 17.0 millimeters.] 



Plumages. — [Author's note: In four nestlings that I have ex- 

 amined, the natal down still adheres to the growing juvenal plumage; 

 the down varies in color from "cream-buff" to "cartridge buff"; the 

 crown is "hair brown,'' and the back is "deep brownish drab"; the 

 wing coverts are tipped with "cinnamon"; and the under parts are 

 white, tinged with buff on the sides and flanks. 



Ridgway (1907) describes the young, in full juvenal plumage, as 

 "essentially like adults, but without orange on crown ; gray of upper 

 parts browner ; upper tail-coverts broadly margined with rusty brown 

 or chestnut, rectrices edged and terminally margined with cinnamon, 

 lesser wing-coverts margined with cinnamon or cinnamon-buff, and 

 other paler wing-markings more or less tinged with cinnamon." 



I have seen birds in this juvenal plumage as late as October 22, 

 which would indicate that the post juvenal molt is prolonged through 

 the winter, with perhaps a partial body molt after the birds have 

 migrated, and a molt of the wings and tail later in the winter, when 

 the attenuated three or four outer primaries are acquired. I have 

 seen one young male, taken February 21, that was molting its tail and 

 in which the wings were much worn; it also had very little yellow 

 in the crown. By the time the young birds come north the}' have 

 probably acquired a plumage that is nearly or quite adult. 



Adults apparently molt mainly while they are in their winter 

 quarters, and we have not enough winter specimens to determine just 



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