i8 

 ing three inches up in a clump of iron-weeds in a marshy place. 

 Two davs seem to be ample time for the birds to complete 

 a nest, and in more than one instance I have, a nest com- 

 menced one day contained an egg the second day thereafter. 

 The outside measurements of seventeen nests vary from 

 3.6 to 5.0 inches in diameter, and 3.0 to 5.0 inches in depth ; 

 and on the inside, from 1.7 to 2.5 inches in diameter by 1.3 to 

 2.5 inches deep. The average size of the whole lot being 4.3 

 inches in diameter by 3.6 inches deep on the outside, and 2.2 

 inches diameter by 2.2 inches deep on the inside. 



Many nests are deserted before completion on account of 

 continued wet weather, or because of browsing cattle disar- 

 ranging the vegetation near them. At other times nests con- 

 taining eggs were deserted for the same cause, and another was 

 upset and the eggs trampled by a clumsy steer. When, from 

 any cause, the nest is destroyed or taken from the birds, they 

 set about in two or three days, building a new one not far from 

 the old site. I have found as many as three partly built nests, 

 within a small area, all the work of one pair of birds during a 

 period of ten days or two weeks, and all deserted on account 

 of roaming stock. 



The only evidence of enemies I have found, was a nest 

 literally torn to pieces and the feathers of the mother bird 

 strewn about, evidently the work of a domestic cat or other 

 such animal. 



Deposition and Number of Eggs, and Their Arrange- 

 ment in the Nest; The Cowbird's Egg and 

 its Effect; — Incubation, 



Seemingly before the birds have had time to complete their 

 nest, the female begins the deposition of the eggs. Generally 

 where 1 had opportunity to watch the nests daily, or at inter- 



