322 Simmons, Nesting of Texan Birds. LJuly 



The set containing thirteen eggs yielded the following: 1.25 X .95; 

 1.25 X .94; 1.25 X .94; 1.25 X .94; 1.24 X .95; 1.24 X .95; 1.24 X .95; 

 1.22 X .93; 1.21 X .94; 1.20 X .94; 1.20 X .93; 1.19 X .94; 1.19 X .92. 



Tympanuchus americanus attwateri. Attwater's Prairie 

 Chicken. — Not uncommon as a resident in the wilder portions of the 

 prairies, but I have never found a nest. On June 7, 1913, at Aldine, a 

 station eleven miles north of Houston, two adults and twelve downy young 

 were observed by the side of the railroad track. 



Meleagris gallopavo silvestris. Wild Turkey. — I know of but one 

 nest of this scarce resident for the region under consideration. On May 8, 

 1912, a farmer by the name of Whicker found a nest by the side of a log 

 in the bottom woods near Penn City, thirteen miles east of Houston. The 

 seven eggs were placed under a domestic hen, and five puny young hatched. 

 They lived but a few days. 



Zenaidura macroura marginella. Western Mourning Dove. — 

 Common resident in all open country. As I have found dozens of nests, 

 general descriptions would be best. 



The nests I have found on the ground, in low bushes and trees, and as 

 high as sixty feet in tall pines. They are usually placed about six feet 

 from the ground on the lower limbs of pine trees along the edges of the 

 woods, in huisache trees on the prairies, in the post oak trees of the scat- 

 tered motts in the open country, and in the shade and orchard trees around 

 ranch houses. When they are placed in pine trees along the edges of pine 

 woods, the nests are nearly always composed entirely of dead pine needles. 

 When in trees on the prairies, the nests are shallow saucers of straws and 

 dead grasses. 



With only one exception, each nest contained two eggs. On May 21, 

 1911, a nest was found on the horizontal limb of a pear tree in a deserted 

 pear orchard; it contained three eggs. One nest contained two eggs which 

 were quite small, measuring: .98 X .54 and .97 X .50. The largest 

 measured 1.17 X .89, and the average of a large series is 1.10 X .80. The 

 nesting season extends from April 16 to July 20, though the majority of 

 nests are found in latter April and early May. Only a few pairs rear 

 second or third broods. 



Chsemepelia passerina passerina. Ground Dove. — My only 

 record for the occurrence of this bird and my only breeding record are one 

 and the same. On June 1, 1910, I flushed a bird from a nest containing 

 two young nearly ready to leave the confines of their birthplace. The nest 

 itself was hardly a nest at all, for it was only a slight hollow in the ground, 

 amid the short grass and stubble on the edge of an orchard on the. prairie 

 near Almeda, thirteen miles south of Houston, and lined with only a few 

 tiny grasses and hairs. 



Buteo lineatus texanus. Texas Red-shouldered Hawk. — A 

 common resident for so large a bird, but the nests are generally in such tall 

 pines as to be practically inaccessible. Of the many nests I have found, 

 and of the few I have been able to reach by climbing, I have found but one 

 that was occupied. 



