NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 317 



these nests are pure white, and average .74X.57. Mr. Lloyd found 

 nests of this species in Western Texas in May, that were placed in 

 bushes not higher than a foot from the ground, or in tufts of grasses. 



579. Peucaea carpalis Coues. [229.] 



Rnfons-'winged Sparrow. 



Hab. Southern Arizona. 



Capt. Charles E. Bendire. U. S. A., found this species to be a 

 common resident in the vicinity of Tucson, Arizona. The birds were 

 especially abundant on the ridges bordering Rillitto Creek, on the dry, 

 arid catcus-covered plains, near the present site of Camp Lowell. 

 Here he collected many nests with eggs. The nest is usually placed 

 in low bushes, preferably small mesquites, from six inches to five feet 

 from the ground, most frequently about eighteen inches; and no 

 especial attempt is made at concealment. It is firmly fixed to a fork 

 or crotch, and is a compact structure, composed externally of coarse 

 grasses and lined with the fine tops of the mesquite grass, and not un- 

 frequently a few horse hairs, when such are obtainable. 



About one-half of the nests found contained one or more eggs 

 of the Dwarf Cowbird. A set of three eggs collected by Capt. 

 Bendire, on August 23, 1872, are in Mr. Norris' collection ; they are 

 plain bluish-white, and give the following measurements : .75 x .57, 

 .78X.59, .75 x .58. The first eggs were found by Capt. Bendire, June 

 14, but the birds were believed to commence breeding even a month 

 earlier. The number to a set is commonly four or five. 



580. Peucsea ruflceps (Cass.) [230.] 



Rnfous-cro-wned Sparro-nr. 



Hab. California. 



The Rufous-crowned Sparrow breeds in various mountainous lo- 

 calities of California, where, however, it is somewhat local in its 

 distribution. Rocky hill-sides, with a sparce growth of stunted 

 bushes, are its favorite resorts. The breeding season is said to begin 

 as early as April. The nest is placed on the ground in a slight hollow, 

 and is exceedingly hard to find, as the sitting female steals silently 

 away under cover of the surrounding vegetation, and if seen at all is 

 likely to be mistaken for a startled mouse. A nest collected July 10, 

 by Mr. Charles A. Allen, on Black Mountain, near Nicasio, California, 

 and described by Mr. William Brewster, is outwardly composed of 

 coarse grass and weed-stocks, lined somewhat scantily with horse 

 hair, very loosely put together. The locality was an open heathy 

 tract on the mountain-side, and the nest was placed on the ground 

 under a bush. This nest contained three pure white eggs; size, .89 x 

 .65.* The eggs are described by others as plain bluish-white. 



♦Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club. II, p. 37. See also Vol. IV pp. 47-48 



