V0l 'i9U XI1 ] Simmons, Nesting of Texan Birds. 327 



June 6, 1914, I was shown a nest in a small pasture back of Taylor's 

 ranch house, a mile south of Pierce Junction. It was exactly similar to 

 the one above described, but faced the west where the first faced the north. 

 It was in a small tussock of grass on the closely cropped surface, and con- 

 tained three young fully fledged. 



On June 11, I flushed a female from another domed nest on the prairie, a 

 half mile north of Pierce Junction. The nest was well concealed under a 

 tussock of grass, slightly sunk in the ground, well lined with dry grasses, 

 and contained four fresh eggs. 



Set No. 1 measured: 1.20 X .82; 1.10 X .80; 1.04 X .81; and 1.03 X 

 .78; while the eggs from nest No. 3 yielded the following: 1.11 X .79; 

 1.10 X .79; 1.09 X .77; and 1.06 X .76. 



Passerherbulus maritimus sennetti. Texas Seaside Sparrow. — 

 Not an uncommon resident in the salt marshes near the bay, but I have 

 only once recorded the bird in the vicinity of Houston. 



June 1, 1910, found Messrs. Howard G. Hill, E. G. Ainslie and myself 

 walking southward from Houston across the open coastal prairie. A half 

 mile north of Pierce Junction we stopped at a small marsh to check off a 

 few of the more common species on our list, and in tramping through the 

 rushes and tall grass I flushed one of these Sparrows from a nest on the 

 moist ground in a clump of the thick grass. The nest was composed of 

 coarse dry grasses, lined with finer, and contained three well fledged young. 

 The nest was not a domed structure, but was more on the order of the nests 

 of the Florida Red-wing (Agelaius phoeniceus floridanus) which surrounded 

 it, for some of the nesting material was entwined about the stalks of the 

 grass. Inside, the nest measured two and a fourth inches in diameter by 

 one and a half deep. Both parents were present, and though nervous were 

 not at all shy, for they often approached within three or four feet of us, 

 perching for a moment on one reed and then on another. 



Peucaea aestivalis bachmani. Bachman's Sparrow. — On April 25, 

 1914, Mr. George B. Ewing (my companion on some hundred-odd field 

 trips) came to me with the information that he had that morning found a 

 nest the like of which he had never seen. In company with a party of 

 surveyors in the woods about nine miles east of Houston and two miles 

 north of Buffalo Bayou, he was tracing a line through the timber when he 

 discovered the nest with three eggs under a small brushy sage-bush in a 

 clearing. 



We visited the locality, and though several of the birds were observed, 

 the first nest was the only one found. The nest was not arched or roofed 

 over, as I had read in the manuals, but more perfectly fitted the description 

 of the nest of the Pine-woods Sparrow. It was perfectly round, with the 

 rim everywhere of equal height, and was set down on the ground amongst 

 the short grass and stubble. It was a well- constructed nest, composed 

 entirely of dry grasses, and was lined with fine grass tops and a few long 

 horse hairs. As it lost its shape on being carried back to the city in Ewing's 

 knapsack during the afternoon, I was not able to take its measurements. 



