VOl 'i9i5 XI1 ] Simmons, Nesting of Texan Birds. 329 



deserted. It was placed four feet up in a small peach tree in the orchard 

 where the last two nests were found, and appeared to be an unusually high 

 nest. It contained fragments of two Cardinal eggs and one egg of the 

 Dwarf Cowbird. The nest was collected for the reason that the outer 

 layer was composed of at least a half dozen cast-off snake skins, and on 

 pulling it apart to determine the exact amount of that material used I was 

 extremely surprised to find that it was a two-story structure. The lower 

 floor contained two Dwarf Cowbird eggs imbedded in the nesting material. 



The last nest, No. 8, was found on April 21, 1914, in a small thicket on 

 Taylor's ranch, one mile south of Pierce Junction. It was placed two and a 

 half feet up in a small Mexican mulberry, and contained three eggs, which 

 were destroyed several days later by heavy rains. 



One of the deserted nests which I found was placed thirty feet from the 

 ground in the open woods on Buffalo Bayou, in easy view. 



The eggs cannot with certainty be distinguished from those of the other 

 subspecies of Cardinals, though some of the eggs are quite different. Set 

 No. 1 measured: .90 X .72 and .88 X 71. Set No. 2 measured: .86 X .63; 

 .82 X .65; .82 X .65; and .77 X .61. Sets 3, 4 and 5 in their respective 

 order, yielded the following: 1.13 X .72; 1.04 X .71; .98 X .73; .93 X 

 .71; .90 X .70; .89 X .71; 1.01 X .78; .99 X .75; and .98 X .76. 



Guiraca cserulea caerulea. Blue Grosbeak. — This bird is a very 

 rare summer resident in the vicinity of Houston, and I have found but one 

 nest. On May 17, 1913, it was found in a small marshy place of an orchard 

 on an old farm about four and a half miles west of the city. The male and 

 female were both present, but were not at all noisy and showed no alarm. 

 The nest was three and a half feet up in a small bush in a damp thicket, 

 and was composed of grasses, corn husks and a few withered leaves. It was 

 lined with fine brown rootlets and a few horse hairs ; on the outside it was 

 four and three-quarter inches in diameter; inside, two and a half inches in 

 diameter by two inches deep. 



The four eggs which the nest contained measured: .87 X .63; .86 X-63; 

 .85 X .62; and .82 X .62. 



Passerina ciris. Painted Bunting. — Rare summer resident; only 

 one nest was found, and that on May 17, 1913, in a small bush in the 

 thicket where I found the nest of the Blue Grosbeak, and not over fifty feet 

 from that nest. The female flushed, and revealed four of its eggs and one 

 egg of the Dwarf Cowbird. It was three and a half feet up in a small 

 crotch, well hidden, and composed of weeds, grasses, strips of bark, leaves, 

 and a few small twigs of grape-vine; the lining was of fine dry grasses. It 

 was indeed a neat and compact little nest. 



The four Bunting eggs measured: .80 X .58; .79 X .56; .78 X .58; 

 and .77 X .56; and the eggbf the Dwarf Cowbird: .75 X .59. 



Spiza americana. Dickcissel. — Common summer resident on the 

 prairies, and though I have several times found fragments of their egg shells 

 I have found but one nest. On May 21, 1911, in the small marsh a 

 half mile north of Pierce Junction, it was discovered, almost on the ground 



