326 Simmons, Nesting of Texan Birds. LJuly 



climbed up to investigate, causing the birds to desert the nest. Later the 

 pipe was taken down and cleaned out, and the nest found to contain three 

 eggs. The nest itself was a mass of rubbish of all sorts: cedar bark, twigs, 

 grasses, feathers, pine needles, and dead leaves, and was lined with horse 

 hair, feathers and cast off snake skin. 



I found another nest of the bird on June 6, 1914, which contained five 

 eggs. An old lard bucket lying on its side in a tiny trough in a well shaded 

 sheep-pen on Taylor's ranch had been half filled with rubbish of various 

 sorts : grasses, cedar bark, snake skin, straws, chicken and guinea feathers, 

 etc., and the eggs had been laid in a hollow in the material near the back of 

 the bucket. To me this nest was especially interesting from the fact that 

 Taylor's ranch is on the open prairie about a mile south of Pierce Junction, 

 and at least four miles from the nearest timber. Quite a number of shade 

 trees surround the house and sheep-pens, but I never would have expected 

 this Flycatcher at such a place. 



The five eggs measured: .98 X .67; .94 X .67; .91 X .68; .90 X .67; 

 and .89 X .68. 



Cyanocitta cristata florincola. Florida Blue Jay. — Though this 

 bird is a common resident, I have found but two nests, one of which was 

 accidently destroyed before the eggs were laid. 



The other was discovered May 6, 1911, by watching the birds carry mud 

 to be used in its construction. I did not climb to the nest until May 14, 

 thinking the birds were still building the nest, and hence was surprised to 

 find that it contained three eggs very heavily incubated. 



The nest was forty-eight feet from the ground, on a three-inch limb 

 about six feet from the trunk of the pine tree in which it was situated, and 

 was composed of twigs and a little Spanish moss, plastered together with 

 wet clayey mud, and lined with rootlets. The birds were quite shy and 

 quiet, in sharp contrast to their conduct at other times of the year. This 

 nest was about a hundred yards north of the house where my first Crested 

 Flycatcher's nest was found. 



These three eggs measured: 1.07 X .81; 1.05 X .79; and 1.04 X .81. 



Sturnella magna argutula. Southern Meadowlark. — During the 

 breeding season these birds are quite common on the prairies, but their 

 nests are very difficult to discover and it was not until the season of 1914 

 that I was able to locate even one. 



It was on May 30, 1914, that my first nest was discovered. I was walk- 

 ing slowly across the grassy prairies about a mile north of Pierce Junction, 

 when the bird flushed from almost under my feet leaving its arched or 

 domed nest and four heavily incubated eggs for my inspection. The nest 

 was cunningly concealed in a small clump of grass on a slight knoll, and was 

 thus several inches above the surrounding surface, which was under water 

 from the recent heavy rains. The nest inside measured four inches from 

 side to side, four inches from front to back, three and a half inches from 

 top to bottom, and the entrance was four and a half inches across. The 

 specks on the eggs were all grouped at the extremity of the larger end. 



