82 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ing with great activity for its food, and preferring low trees and bushes. 

 At times it will dart almut in the air in pvirsuit of small insects. 



Mr. John Xantus found these birds to be i|uite abundant at Cape St. Lucas, 

 and obtained several of their nests. They were generally built among tlie 

 interlacing tendrils of a wild vine {Antigonon leiytopii^^), and so closely inter- 

 woven with the smaller branches as to be iiiseparal)le. The nests, like those 

 of all this family, are structures of great beauty and delicacy. They have a 

 height and an external diameter of about 2\ inches. The cavity is H inches 

 wide at the rim, and fully two inches deep. This great proportionate d-ipth 

 of tlie nest seems to be characteristic of this genus. The external portion of 

 this nest is composed of a composite blending of various vegetable materials, 

 fine hempen fibres of plants, strips of delicate bark from smaller shrubs, 

 silken fragments of cocoons and downy cotton-like substance, all veiy 

 closely impacted and felted together, somewhat after the manner of the 

 Humming-Bird. The whole is very softly and warmly lined with a l)eauti- 

 fuUy interwoven and silky fabric composed of the soft down of various 

 plants. 



The walls of the nest, though of the softest materials, are so thick and 

 so firmly impacted as to make it a structure remarkably firm and secure 

 against accidents. • 



The eggs, four in number, measure .55 of an inch in length by .45 in 

 breadth. They are of an oblong-oval shape, their ground-color is a pale 

 greenish-white sprinkled over the entire surface with fine dottiugs of purple, 

 reddish-brown, and black. 



