EGG CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 61 
Nehrling says that near Houston, Texas, the nest is commonly placed in 
blackberry-bushes, and in the almost impenetrable hedges of the Chero- 
kee-rose (Rosa laevigata). Inthe more western part of Texas, he says, 
he discovered nests usualty in the larger peach-gardens. It was placed 
from two to ten, sometimes twelve feet from the ground, and is built of 
plant-stems, fine grasses, spider-webs and bark-strips, lined with finer 
grasses or very fine rootlets. Almost all the nests obtained near West 
Yegua, Lee County, were built of plant-stems, grasses, rootlets and large 
pieces of snake-skins, lined with fine grasses and the inner bark of trees. 
Some nests are small, others are large and bulky. The eggs are five, 
sometimes only four. They have a dull or bluish white ground-color, 
and are marked with dark and reddish-brown spots, especially at the 
larger end. They rear one, sometimes two broods in a season. 
264. Sturnella neglecta. 
Western Meadow Lark. 
This Lark is found in the United States west of the Mississippi. It 
breeds abundantly in California, Oregon, Washington Territory and Col- 
orado. Nesting habits similar to those of the Eastern Lark. Four eggs 
before me, collected in California, measure as follows: 1.08 by .86, 1.09 
by .86, 1.05 by 77, 1.05 by .77. They are of an oblong-oval shape, the 
ground white, sparingly spotted with purplish and reddish-brown, chiefly 
at the larger end. The mottling is much finer than in the eggs of the 
Eastern species. 
269. TIcterus cucullatas. 
Hooded Oriole. 
The Hooded Oriole is essentially a Mexican species, though it also 
extends northward into Texas at the Rio Grande, and into Southern Cali- 
fornia and Arizona. To Prof. B. W. Evermann belongs the credit of first 
finding this beautiful Oriole breeding farther north than any one before 
had found it. Dr. Cooper, who had given it more study than any other 
ornithologist, informs him that he had never found the bird or its nest so far 
north as San Buenaventura, Cal. Prof. Evermann writes me that he found 
it breeding quite numerously as far north as San Buenaventura, and that 
it was observed breeding at Santa Barbara, thirty miles farther up the 
coast, though it was not so common as in Ventura County. He found | 
the first full set of eggs about May Ist. The average number of eggs is 
five. The nests, he states, were suspended in sycamores generally, often 
in live oaks. These are usually from five to fifteen feet from the ground. 
They are composed of grass which has been picked while yet green, so 
