226 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



On the Rio Grande it extends into Texas, and thus qualifies itself for a 

 place within our fauna. A few specimens were procured at Eagle Pass and 

 elsewhere by the Mexican Boundary Survey party. It is more abundant 

 on the western banks of the Rio Grande, especially at Matamoras. Among 

 the MS. notes left by Dr. Kennerly is a part of the memoranda of the 

 late Dr. Berlandier of that place. Under the name of Pica clcgcms the lat- 

 ter refers to what is evidently this species. He describes it as found in 

 all parts of the Republic of Mexico, where it is known as Uraca, Pajaro 

 negro, and, in Acapulco, Papate. It is found, he adds, abundantly through- 

 out the State of Tamaulipas. It lives upon grain, especially corn, devouring 

 the planted seeds and destroying the crops. It builds its nest in April, 

 laying its eggs in the same month, and the young birds are hatched out by 

 the beginning of May. The nests are large, the edges high, and the cavity 

 correspondingly deep. They are constructed of dry plants and small bits 

 of cloth, which the birds find about the settlements, and the bottom of the 

 nest is plastered with clay, which gives it great firmness. This is covered 

 with grasses and pieces of dry weeds. The eggs are described as large, of a 

 pale leaden-gray or a rusty color, over which are black marks, stripes, lines, 

 and spots without order or regularity. They are generally four in number. 

 The nests are built on the tops of the highest trees, usually the willows 

 or mesquites. 



Mr. G. C. Taylor, in liis notes on the birds of Honduras, states that he 

 found this Blackbird common, and always to be met with about the villages. 

 It appeared to be polygamous, the males being generally attended by 

 several females. A fine male bird, with his accompanying females, fre- 

 quented the court-yard of the Railroad House at Comayagua, where Mr. 

 Taylor was staying. They generally sat on the roof of the house, or among 

 the upper branches of some orange-trees that grew in the yard. They had 

 a very peculiar cry, not unlike the noise produced by the sharpening of a 

 saw, but more prolonged. 



Mr. Salvin found the bird very abundant in Central America. In one of 

 his papers relative to the birds of that region, he states that this species, in 

 Guatemala, plays the part of the European House Sparrow. It seeks the 

 abode of man, as does that familiar bird, and is generally found frequenting 

 larger towns as well as villages. Stables are its favorite places of resort, 

 where it scratches for its food among the ordure of the horses. It will 

 even perch on the backs of these animals and rid them of their ticks, 

 occasionally picking up stray grains of corn from their mangers. At Duenas 

 he found it breeding in large societies, usually selecting the willows tliat 

 grow near the lake and the reeds on the banks for its nest. The breeding 

 season extends over some length of time. In May, young birds and fresh 

 eggs may be found in nests in the same trees. On the coast, young birds, 

 nearly capable of flying, were seen in the early part of March. Mr. Salvin 

 adds that the nests are usually made of grass, and placed among upright 



