ORNITHOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES 239 



deep cup about 6 cm. in diameter by 5 cm. deep. The 

 material used was surprisingly uniform in character, and 

 all the finches in one locality seemed to utilize only the one 

 kind. It consisted of fine weed stems rather loosely woven 

 together so that light could be seen through the crevices. 

 No other interior lining was used. 



The number of eggs varied from two to three, one num- 

 ber being as common as the other. Their ground color was 

 pale bluish green, thickly covered with lilac and brown 

 blotches, interspersed here and there with spots and streaks 

 of black. The shell was very thin and the eggs varied greatly 

 in size and shape, some being long and others almost round. 

 The average dimensions were 17.5 x 13.5 mm. 



The little chestnut-bellied seedeater (Sporophila cas- 

 taneiventris) , built a larger nest and was not so particular 

 about the material used. It invariably selected a low bush 

 so that the sitting bird was never more than eighteen inches 

 from the ground. The nest was perhaps a little better built, 

 for the walls were thicker and there was a slight lining of 

 finer grass on the inside. Sometimes they decorated the 

 nest. The top of one found in Georgetown in February was 

 covered with white downy cotton obtained from the pods 

 of a weed growing nearby. It gave the nest the appearance 

 of a white cotton ring hanging in the bush. 



They laid from two to three whitish eggs, thickly spot- 

 ted with brown and lilac, and more or less covered with fine, 

 irregular lines of black. 



A third and rarer finch, and one whose nest and eggs 

 has not been described, is the black-headed seedeater, (Spo- 

 rophila bouvronides) . They were more rare at Kalacoon than 

 the others, but scarcely a day passed that we did not see one 

 in the clearing about the house. Finally, about the middle 

 of June, a pair built a nest on the frond of a young royal 

 palm, a few yards from the house and about six feet from 

 the ground. It was similar to that of O. brevirostris, slightly 

 larger and not so deep. Two eggs were laid. 



