420 NORTH AMERICAN 1UUD.< 



VL'iv t'oiicl of the little cliani;eal)le uieeii lizuixl, which it pursues with great 

 skill and activity, hut not always with success. 



It is said also tu hreed twice in a season. Dr. Uachnian descril)es their 

 eggs as white, and Mr. Auduhon sj>eaks of them as greenish-white. Neither 

 make any reference to their spots. 



All tlje nests that I have ever seen of this species, in the simplicity of 

 their structure and in their lack of elaboration, are in reniarkalde contrast 

 with the nests of both the hoiralis and the cmdnftHvitfis. They are tiat, 

 shallow structures, with a height of about two inches antl a diameter of five. 

 They are made externally of long soft strips of the inner bark of the bass- 

 wood, strengthened on the sides with a few dry twigs, stems, and roots. 

 Within, it is lined with tine grasses and stems of herl)aceous plants. 



The eggs, often si.x in number, are in length from 1.02 to 1.U8 inches, and 

 from .72 to .78 of an inch in breadth ; their ground-color is a yellowish or 

 clavev-white, blotched and marbled with dashes, more or less confluent, of 

 obscure purple, light brown, and a pur] dish-gray. The spots are usually 

 larger and more scattered than in the e<^«^s of C. horfdiis, and the ground- 

 color is a yellowish and not a bluish white, as in the eggs of C. cxcuhitoroiddi. 



Collurio ludovicianus, var. robustus, Baird. 



WHITE- WINGED SHBIKE. 



11 Laniusfh'ijoiis, Sw. F. B. A. II, 1831, 122. — XrrrALL, Man. I, 1840, 287. — C.v.<i<ix, 

 Pr. A. N. Sc. 1857, 213.— I>aii:i>, IJinls X. Am. 1858, 327. Colhirlo clajans, Baiiid, 

 Birds N. Am. 1858, 328. Uulliirio clnjanx, Baii:!), lifv. Am. B. 1804, 444. — Coopek, 

 Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 140. (Acronling to Dhksski: & Sii vitPK, P. Z. S. 1870, 50.5, 

 who liavc oxamiiuMl the typ*', the L. clcguns of Swaiiiiou is the same as L. lahtora, 

 Sykes, of Siberia.) 



Hab. California? 



The description already given is taken from a s]iecimen in the collection of 

 the Philauel})hia Academy, labelled as having been c<dlected in California by 

 Dr. Gambel, and is very decidedly different from any of the recognized North 

 American species. Of nearly the size of C. cn-Hhitoroiihs and ImJovuianv.^, 

 it has a bill even more powerful than that of C. borca/is. In its unwaved 

 under parts and uniform color of the entire ui)])er surface, except scapulars, 

 it differs from honv/is and e.a'uhitoroidcH, and resembles hidorulanvs. In the 

 extension of white over the inner webs of the secondaries, it closely resem- 

 bles C. excuhitor. The great restriction of white at the base of the tail — 

 the four central feathers being entirelv black, and the bases of the others 

 grayish-ashy — is quite peculiar to the s[)ecies. 



The specimen in tlie Philadelphia Academy we originally referred to the 

 L. ('/cf/((ns of Swainson, alleged to have come from the fur countries, as al- 

 though some appreciable dilfereuces presented themselves, especially in the 



