NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



being bulky as well as openly situated it is as easily found as that of the 

 Robin. Exteriorally it is ragged and loose, but well cupped and brimmed, 

 consisting of twigs, weedstalks, grasses, rootlets, bits of vegetable-down 

 and wool firmly matted together. The lining is of slender grasses, chicken 

 feathers, horse hair, fibres, rootlets and wool, used singly or combined in 

 various proportions. 



Hab. Temperate North America, but chiefly Eastern United States, north to 57- or further; west to 

 Rocky Mountains; rare or casual on the Pacific slope. 



305. Couch's Kingbird — tyrannus melancholicus couchi. Rich buff; 

 the blotches similar in color to those on the eggs of the Kingbird, but more 

 numerous, and they are generally smaller; irregularly distributed over the 

 entire surface, but massed about the greatest diameter. The larger end 

 is very round and the smaller end quite pointed. Four eggs measure as 

 follows: I. by .'jG, .99 by .']<5, .98 by .76, .97 by .72. A nest described by 

 Geo. B. Sennett, in the "Auk" for January, 1884, was situated some twenty 

 feet from the ground, on a small lateral branch of a large elm, in a grove 

 not far from houses. It was composed of small elm twigs, with a little 

 Spanish moss, a few branchlets and leaves of the growing elm, lined with 

 fine rootlets and black hair like heart of the Spanish moss. This nest, with 

 the above described eggs, were taken at Lomita Ranch, on the Rio Grande, 

 Texas, in 1881. 



306. Western Kingbird — tyrannus verticalis. Same as those of 

 caroli)iciisis. The nest is rather larger, with more fluffy and less fibrous 

 material. 



Hab. Western North America, from the high Central PUins to the Pacific; east regularly to Kansas, 

 Iowa, etc. Accidental in Louisiana, New Jersey and Maine. 



307. Cassin's Kingbird — tyrannus vociferans. White with a fleshy 

 tint, marked with large, scattered reddish-brown and umber blotches; in 

 fact a large series of the eggs of the Carolincnsis Verticalis and Vociferans 

 before me, when placed in one tray, cannot be distinguished. The nest 

 of Cassin's is not, however, of so slovenly an exterior. 



Hab. Southwestern United States and southward; north to Wyoming and Idaho; abundant in the Rocky 

 Mountain region, there mostly replacing the I'erticalis in the breeding season. — Coties 



311. Mexican Great-crested Flycatcher — myiarchus mexicanus. Dr. 

 Merrill found this species breeding in considerable numbers on the Lower 

 Rio Grande in Texas. With one exception no snake-skins were used in the 

 construction of any of the nests. They were composed of felted locks of 

 wool and hairs, and were placed not far from the ground either in old 

 woodpecker's holes or in natural cavities of decayed trees or stumps. 

 Thirty-two eggs have an average size of .93 by .66, the extremes being 

 1.03 by .73 and .82 by .65. The ground color and markings closely 



