I02 LUCY'S WARBLER 



ated a deserted Verdin's nest using it without apparent repairs or 

 alterations. Howard^ records a similar instance and adds : "most 

 of the nests were in mesquite trees, in natural cavities or behind 

 pieces of loose bark, ranging in height from two to twenty feet, but, 

 as a rule, they are within easy reach." 



Nest. — "The nests are very frail aflfairs and are made of fine 

 straws, vegetable fibers and leaves, with a lining of feathers and hair." 

 {Howard'^.) 



Eggs. — 3 to 5, usually 3 or 4. Ground color white, handsomely 

 wreathed around the large end with specks, spots, and small blotches 

 of reddish brown, umber, and lavender; in some cases the markings 

 are sparingly distributed over all the egg, the rule, however, is a 

 well-defined wreath around the large end. Probably averaging the 

 smallest of North American Warblers' eggs. Size; average, .59X.44; 

 extremes, .61X.45, .56X.43. (Figs. 18-20.) 



Nesting Dates. — Phoenix, Ariz., April 19 (C. W. C) ; Tucson, 

 Ariz., April 28-June 11 (Stephens). 



Biographical References 



(i) Wm. Brewster. On a Collection of Birds lately made by Mr. F. 

 Stephens in Arizona, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VH, 1882, 82. (2) O. W. Howard. 

 Summer Resident Warblers of Arizona, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, (=Condor), 

 I, 1899, 37. 



Genus COMPSOTHLYPIS Cabanis 



Our two species of this genus are small bluish birds with a short, 

 wedge-shaped, sharply pointed, slightly curved, unnotched bill, of 

 which the upper mandible is blackish, the lower, whitish ; the rictal 

 bristles are short but evident ; the wing is about .70 inches longer 

 than the tail and has the four outer primaries of nearly equal length, 

 the tail-feathers are narrow and of about equal length, the outer 

 ones being conspicuously marked with white ; the feet are dark, 

 the tarsus is much longer than the middle toe and nail, the 

 hind toe-nail is nearly as long as the toe. 



Compsothlypis contains three species, C. grapsoni of Socorro 

 Island, Mexico, C. pitiayumi, ranging from Brazil to the Lower Rio 

 Grande and separated into half a dozen geographical races, of which 

 our C. nigrilora is the most northern, and C. americana of the eastern 

 United States. 



Our species nest in hanging bunches of Usnea or Tillandsia 

 'moss'. 



1 



