1889. ] BENDIRE on the Habits of the Genus Passerella. 15 
thoroughly welded together in this condition, forming when dry 
a compact, solid structure which will retain its shape perfectly. 
They are rather deep for the small size of the bird, and cup-shaped. 
The finer finishing touches are attended to by the female, which 
fits the material used as the inner lining of the nest carefully in 
its place. As a rule two or three days are consumed in the con- 
struction of a nest, but I have positive evidence, in one instance at 
least, that a pair of these birds built an entirely new nest, and did 
it well too, between sunrise and sunset of the same day, and an 
egg was deposited in it that evening. A nest now before me, 
No. 17,662, National Museum collection, taken by me at Camp 
Harney, Oregon, May 20, 1878, is outwardly constructed of 
various coarse plant fibres, willow bark, and marsh grass, and 
lined with fine grass tops taken from a species of rye grass. 
The outside of the nest is four and a half inches across by four 
inches deep ; the inner diameter is two and a half inches, the 
depth two inches. About one third of the nests examined by me 
(some fifty in number), were lined inside with more or less horse- 
hair, and a couple, in addition, with feathers. 
The Slate-colored Sparrow, according to my observations, pre- 
fers to nest in willow thickets, next in dense wild rose bushes, 
and occasionally in a bunch of tall rye grass, but always close to 
water. ‘The nests are generally placed some little distance fram 
the ground, rarely at a greater height than three feet, and are 
invariably well hidden. But a single instance came under my 
observation where the nest was placed directly on the ground; in 
this case it was hidden by an overhanging bunch of some species 
of swamp grass. 
The usual number of eggs laid by these birds is four, although 
three are not infrequently found. I found but two nests in fifty 
containing five eggs, the latter were evidently very uncommonly 
large sets. Incubation, as nearly as I was able to determine, lasts 
from twelve to fourteen days; both sexes assist. 
The ground color of the majority of the eggs of this form is a 
pale malachite-green, varying to olive buff and pale grayish 
green. The markings vary from burnt umber, chocolate and 
chestnut brown, to Indian and pale heliotrope purple, lilac, and 
lavender gray. Asa rule the spots and blotches are better defined 
in shape and more evenly distributed over the egg than in the 
other forms of this genus, in no case obscuring the ground color 
