430 XOKTII AMERICAN I5IUDS. 



iiffonU'd by the preseiiro of tlioso tnnnidiiblc insects. tli(m;_ili upon wliat terms 

 of amity t!iis dofciisivt* alliancL' is kept ilnes not a]>pi'ar. 



Tliese ('reeiH'i's inculuite duiinn the montlis of May, .lunc, and July. On 

 the 4th of May, Mr. (losse oltserveil one with a lut of " silk-eotton "' in lier 

 beak, and found the skeleton of the nest just eonnucneed in a bush «>f tho Lmi- 

 fniiu en Hill I'd. It was evidently to be of dome shape, and so far had been con- 

 strueted entirely of silk-eotton. The eonipleted nests are made in the form 

 of a .ulolie, witli a small opening below the side. The walls are veiy thiek, 

 eomj)osed of dry grasses intermixed irregularly with the down of asc le]»ias. 

 One of these nests was fixed l)etween the twiu:s of a l)raneh of a Jitwhinitf 

 })roJeeting over a highway. Anotlier, found towards the end of June, was 

 built in a bush of Lnufanff, and of the same strueture. It eontained two 

 eggs, greenish-white, thickly lait imletinitely dashed with reddish at the 

 larger end. Mr. tiosse ijuotes a ]\Ir. Rcjbinson as giving their dimensions at 

 .44 by :>! of an inch, while his own sj>ecimens are mueh larger than this, 

 measuring .bo bv nearlv ..">(). Two eii^s of C. flmuoJn, from Jamaiea, in mv 

 cabinet, measure, .(*>S by ..'»! and .b8 by .4'J of an inch. In one the ground 

 is a dull white, so generallv and thieklv covered with minute but coidluent 

 dots of reddish-brown as t<» impart a pinkish tinge to the Avhole egg. In the 

 other the ground is a dull white, sparingly marked with blotches of brown 

 over about tlp'ee fourths of its surface, but at the largei- end covered with a 

 crown of larger and continent l»l(jtches of suljdued [»ur]»le and dark undter, 

 intermingled with a few lines of a darker hue, almost l>lack. 



Two egLis of C ifi'/rfo/ii, from St. ("roix, are of ii more rounded-oval sha]»e, 

 and nu'asure .<')ll by .4r> an<l .<i.') by .44 of an inch. They have a dull white 

 ground, but this is so uniforudy and generally covered with conlluent red- 

 dish-brown mai'king< as to be nowhere very distinct. 



The 8t. Croix sjx'cies is called the Sugai-Iiiid in that island, from its habit 

 of entering the cmiuLi-houses, throu<'h the barretl windows. i>robablv attracted 

 thither by the swarms of flies. It is a very familiar species, haunting gar- 

 dens, and (tften entering houses, and never manifesting any alarm. It keeps 

 in pairs, and breeds from March to August. Mr. Xewton stales that it builds 

 a domed and often pensile nest, with a small ]»orch, or ]>ent-hou.se roof, over 

 the entrance, irenerallv at the extremitv of a leafv bouiih. The nest is <4en- 

 erallv verv nut id v on the outside, and is compostMl of coarse urass and cot- 

 ton, with feathers on the inside. It de])osits its eggs before the completion 

 of th<' nest, "rather to the diseomfiture of the oologist, who delays inserting 

 his finger into the stiucture while he sees one or both of the birds busy with 

 a tuft of grass or cotton in their lulls, until at last he hnds their eggs jdready 

 hatched." Mr. Xewton ob.served one instance in ^vbi(:i. two broods were 

 reared in the same nest, witli only an interval of ten days between the time 

 the young left it and the laying of an egg. 



