Vol. XXII 



1 905 



Stockard, Nesting Habits of Mississippi Birds. 277 



sites for nesting such as blackberry vines, low hawthorn bushes, and often 

 the nest is tucked down into a tussock of sedge grass. The sparrows 

 are common in the fields, along the edges of woods, and among the 

 bushes bordering roadsides. A large number of sets were observed, 

 most of them consisting of four eggs but many had only three. For so 

 small a species their nesting season began rather early, eggs being found 

 on April 14, 1900, and the latest were seen on May 21, 1896. 



56. Peucaea aestivalis bachmanii. Bachmax's Sparrow. — Onlv one 

 nest of this sparrow was found. The birds were very rare, being seldom 

 seen. The one nest was built over a slight depression on the ground 

 close beside a small bunch of weeds, and composed of dead grass blades 

 and stems. It was totally roofed over and the eggs could only be seen bv 

 slightly stooping so as to look back under the roof where they lav upon 

 the nest bottom of grass. The location was near a brake of mixed pine 

 and oaks. The date of finding was May 14, 1896, and the nest contained 

 four fresh eggs. 



57. Pipilo erythrophthalmus. Towhee. — The Towhee is common in 

 most of the small brakes and woods and its strong note is a familiar 

 sound through the entire year. All the nests were placed in low thick 

 bushes or vines, usually two or three feet from the ground ; none were 

 seen directly on the ground. They lay during the month of May and 

 comparatively fresh sets were taken June 6, 1S99, and June 3, 1902. There 

 were always three eggs in the set. 



58. Cardinalis cardinalis. Cardinal. — The ' Redbird,' as it is gener- 

 ally termed through the Gulf States, was common everywhere, and so 

 familiar has it become that the nest is often placed in the vines that shade 

 the galleries and arch the entrances of houses. They were found nesting 

 in rose bushes and vines of the flower gardens, and in orchards their nest 

 was a common sight. When, on the other hand, they were found in the 

 deep woods and the thickest canebrakes, they were very shy and would 

 flit off of the nest sometime before the disturber came close to it, flying 

 away to a safe distance and uttering their twitter at intervals until danger 

 was past. Three eggs almost invariably constituted the set in this sec- 

 tion ; in the many seen only two or three contained four eggs. The 

 Cardinal was an early nester, beginning about the tenth of April and 

 fresh eggs are rarely taken after May 20. Some eggs were scarcely spot- 

 ted at all while some were covered almost entirely by large light chocolate 

 blotches. In sets of three eggs two were usually lightly marked while 

 the third was so heavily spotted that it resembled its set mates only in 

 size. In one set of four that I have all the eggs are similarly marked. 



59. Guiraca caerulea. Blue Grosbeak. — This very interesting spe- 

 cies was by no means a stranger in Mississippi, nor was it very common 

 in many portions. The earliest set was found on May 9, and the latest 

 on June 1. Several sets were found, all consisting of four eggs each. 



In connection with this bird the following interesting and peculinr 

 observation was made. — May 18, 1895, a nest containing four fresh eggs 



