APPENDIX. 517 



This species has also been found resident in El Paso County, Colorado, by Mr. 

 Aiken. 



Pipilo aberti (II, 128). Captain Bendire found this species breeding abun- 

 dantly in the vicinity of Tucson, in Southern Arizona. The nests were not on the 

 ground, as is usual among the more northern forms of Pipilos, but in trees and in 

 bushes at the height of several feet from the ground. One nest was taken July 

 28, in a small ash-tree, and another was found on the same day in a willow-tree, 

 more than eight feet from the ground. The eggs bear a close resemblance to those 

 of Pipilo ftiscus and to those of P. alhigula, having a ground-color of very light 

 blue, marked almost exclusively around the larger end with a wreath of irregular 

 blotches of dark purplish-brown. They are of a rounded oval shape, are quite 

 obtuse at one end, and vary in length from .97 of an inch to .88, and in breadth 

 from .76 to .75. 



Pipilo chlorurus (II, 131). Dr. Cooper met wuth none of this species in the 

 Sierra Nevada between 3,000 and 7,000 feet elevation in April, 1870, when they 

 were leisurely working their way up from the lower country ; but in July he found 

 them from Truckee, 6,000 feet on the east slope, up to the summit, 7,000 feet, 

 but not higher. They were then feeding half-grown young. Dr. Albert Kellogg 

 found a nest on the ground, with four eggs, spotted near the larger end on a bluish 

 ground. The males were still singing occasionally and very melodiously, and had 

 the same cry of alarm or anger as the Pipilo erytkropthahnus. Dr. Cooper also 

 met with this species at Clear Lake, near the end of September, showing that they 

 probably breed in the northern Coast Ptange. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus (II, 149). Specimens from every portion of the 

 Plains, and west to the Croat Basin, have the black intenser and more continuous, 

 the nuchal patch clear ochraceous-white, the scapulars and rump unshaded white, 

 and the white of the back confined to a median line. The bill and feet are also 

 jet-black, instead of horn-color. They constitute var. albinucha, Ridgway. 



Icterus CUCUllatUS (II, 193). Except in the materials, which difference may 

 be more local than specific, the nests of this species are hardly distinguishable 

 from those of/, spurius. A nest from Cape St. Lucas (S. I. No. 4,954), collected 

 May, 1860, by Mr. Xantus, is basket-shaped and pendulous, suspended on two sides 

 to the numerous twigs of each fork of a drooping branch. In structure it is 

 exactly like that of /. sjmriiis, and is composed of dry wiry grasses, lined scan- 

 tily with vegetable down. The length is six inches, low^er side of aperture only 

 two and a half inches from the bottom. Another (S. I. No. 1,940) taken May 20, 

 1859, at San Jose, Lower California, by Mr. Xantus, is a very elaborately wrought 

 basket-shaped nest. The circumference of the circular rim is much less than the 

 greatest girth of the nest. The lower walls and base of the nest are very thick. 

 The whole is composed of fine wiry grasses and scantily lined with vegetable down 

 and soft flaxy fibres. The external diameter is 5.00 inches, the internal 2.10, 

 height about 3.00, and the depth of the cavity 2.80. 



Captain Charles Bendire met with this species in Southern Arizona. It was 

 first noticed by him on the 15th of April, but he thinks they had arrived nearly 

 ten days previously, and that the date of their coming may be given as during the 



