SENNETT ON BIEDS OF THE RIO GRANDE OF TEXAS. 21 



Pyerhuloxia sinuata, B;p. — Texas Cardinal. 



In the close vicinity of Brownsville, I found these birds quite abun- 

 dant. I first met them while after some Cowbirds, Molothrus wneus, in a 

 brush-fence, near the Catholic cemetery, and shot two females. One 

 day, by following up the fences just without the city, one on each side, 

 we obtained eleven, and out of the lot only one was a male. At 

 Hidalgo, we met occasionally solitary pairs in the thickets away from 

 habitations. Their habits I found to be much like those of the Cardinal 

 Eedbird, only they keep closer to the ground. We searched everywhere 

 for their nests, but with no success. Out of over twenty specimens 

 secured, there were only three males. I several times heard the whistle 

 of the male, and I could readily distinguish it from the note of cardi- 

 nalis. I found this species very shy ; and when surprised, instead of 

 flying boldly off to another bush, it would invariably dart toward the 

 ground, and fly along the brush, behind some projection, or through the 

 fence to the opposite side, so that a shot on the wing was out of the 

 question. Their skins are extremely tender, and their skulls are ex- 

 IDanded, so that great care must be observed in skinning, or ugly rents 

 will be the result. That they breed along the Lower Eio Grande, there 

 can be no doubt, and we may expect before long full accounts of their 

 breeding habits. 



120— 5 —8.00 X 11.00 X 3.50 x 4.00. Mar. 31, Brownsville. 



121— 9 —8.25 X 11.50 x 3.50 x 4.00. Mar. 31, Brownsville. 

 158— <^— 8.50x11.75x3.75x4.00. Apr. S.Brownsville. 

 159— 9 —8.25 X 11.50 x 3.50 x 3.75. Apr. 5, Brownsville. 

 235— ,?— 8.50 X 11.50 x 3.65 x 3.85. Apr. 19, Hidalgo. 

 289—^—8.50x11.75x3.50x3.85. Apr. 28, Hidalgo. 



• 360—9—8.25x11.00x3.40x4.00. May 4, Hidalgo. 



Cardinalis virginianus, {Brisson) Bp. — Cardinal Eedbird. 



The habits of this familiar bird are too well known, both in the gar- 

 dens of the South and in captivity, to need any further notice. So far, 

 however, from finding them as tame on the Eio Grande as they are rep- 

 resented to be elsewhere, the reverse is true. We found them quite 

 common, yet very shy. A number of nests and sets of eggs were 

 obtained. They were generally taken in dense thickets, some five fset 

 from the ground ; but we found one nest and two eggs, seven feet from 

 the ground, in a bushy tree ; and another, only two and one-half feet 

 from the ground, in a thicket. First nest and three fresh eggs found 

 April 28th. Their nests vary greatly, according to location ; some are 

 bulky, and others hardly more than would answer for a Carolina Dove. 

 Spanish moss enters largely into the outside, together with twigs and 

 leaves. The lining is composed of rootlets and pliant twigs, and some- 

 times grasses also. The eggs are dull white, blotched and speckled all 

 over, but more heavily at the larger end, with brown ; generally the spots 

 are lengthened, which gives the eggs the appearance of being streaked. 



