SENNETT ON BIEDS OF THE RIO GRANDE OF TEXAS. 37 



lizard sunning itself on a bush, and bave sbot others while engaged in 

 eating them on the ground. Of their breeding habits there seems to 

 be little known, and reports vary. As I was fortunate enough to find 

 their nests, I will give the details, hoping to settle doubts. My first 

 nest of this species I found near Hidalgo, on April 27th, in a tree sur- 

 rounded by high, thorny bushes. It was a frail nest, composed of sticks 

 and weeds, and lined with loose grasses. It was situated eight feet 

 from the ground, in a broad crotch, close to the body of a tree, and con- 

 tained nine eggs. A majority of them were fresh, but a few showed that 

 incubation had taken place. The next nest was found April 28th, in 

 a junco-bush, very near the village of Hidalgo. It was set in the thick 

 mass of thorns, away from the body of the bush ; was about five feet 

 from the ground, composed of sticks and grasses, and contained one egg. 

 It was visited for several days, but we could perceive no warmth to the 

 egg, nor were others added to it. On May 3d, we took the egg, conclud- 

 ing that its parent had been shot. On May 4th, a nest containing four 

 perfectly fresh eggs was found, about six feet from the ground, in a small 

 tree in a very dense thicket. This was so far out of town, and in such a 

 wild and unfamiliar section, that I dared not leave it for fear that I should 

 3iot find it again. On the same day, I watched for some time a bird of 

 this species carrying sticks for its nest, and although I could locate 

 the thicket into which it took them, yet I could not penetrate it, 

 although I tried several times thereafter. On May 9th, two perfectly fresh 

 eggs were brought me by a Mexican, which he had taken from a nest in 

 a bush. The depression of any nest was seldom deeper than the width 

 of the egg. The first nest, with clutch of nine, could have held but two 

 or three more eggs comfortably. From the fact that the niue eggs were 

 warm when I found them, it is reasonable to suppose that the bird had 

 begun to sit; and as none of them showed much development of em- 

 bryo, she could not have been a very long time at it. The natives told 

 me stories about these birds beginning to sit from the time they com- 

 mence to lay, and continuing to sit throughout the season ; that a large 

 number of eggs are laid, and a considerable time intervening between 

 the laying of any two ; as a consequence, the bird of the first egg would 

 become fully grown before the last egg of the season was laid. On May 

 20th, as I was about taking the steamer at Point Isabel, a boy brought 

 me a young one of this species about one-fourth grown, the first and only 

 chick seen by me. I put no faith in the stories mentioned above, nor 

 in accounts of these birds attacking and mastering the large rattle- 

 snakes of the country. From my observations, their complement of 

 eggs is from eight to twelve. The eggs are very uniform in shape and 

 size, double-rounded ; rarely one is found with tendency toward a point. 

 Length varies from 1.57 to 1.42 ; breadth from 1.23 to 1.20 ; average of 

 the sixteen eggs before me is 1.50 by 1.21. Color i^ure white. 



106—^—23.00 X 21.50 x 7.00 x 11.50. Mar. 29, Brownsville. 

 261— 2 —22.00 X 20.00 x 6.50 x 10.50. Apr. 20, Hidalgo. 

 273— $ —21.25 X 19.50 x 6.25 x 10. 00 Apr. 25, Hidalgo. 



