20 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 



find tbeir nest. One day, by accident, I discovered it. About May 1st, 

 several of us were coming along the beaten path from the ferry. I 

 turned aside to take a short cut through the weeds, which grew nearly 

 as tall as my head. Not more than ten feet from the path I came upon 

 a partly overturned nest, containing four young. Their pin-feathers, 

 though just started, showed deep blue on the wings. The nest was 

 about four and one-half feet from the ground, and composed of grasses 

 twined around the weed-stalks, after the manner of Blackbirds' building. 

 It was by no means firmly built nor tightly bound to the stalks, and 

 some cattle had evidently nearly tipped the little household out. F 

 righted the nest, bound it to a fresh stalk or two, and left it. All the 

 time we were examining and working at the nest, the parents were sit- 

 ting on a woodpile close by, showing no alarm whatever. 



281- $ —7.75 X 12.25 x 4.00 x 3.10. Apr. 26, Hidalgo. 



303— i —7.25 X 11.25 x 3.50 x 2.85. Apr. 29, Hidalgo. 



327— S —7.50 x 12.00 x 3.50 x 2.85. May 2, Hidalgo. 



345—^—7.25x11.65x3.50x3.00. May 3, Hidalgo. 



Cyanospiza oieis, (X.) Bd.— Painted Finch. 



April 25th, at Hidalgo, was the first we saw of this beautiful bird, after 

 which we saw one or two daily. They were extremely shy. The speci- 

 men obtained is remarkable, having every outward appearance of being 

 a female, and yet being a male, with fully developed testicles. Two 

 of us examined it with great care, and deliberated over the casej there- 

 fore, there is no chance of a mistake.* 



362—^—5.50 X 9.00 x 2.75 x 2.40. May 4, Hidalgo. 



Cyanospiza yeksicolok, (5jp.) Bd.— Western Ifonpareil. 



I did not obtain any specimens of this bird, but I saw and compared 

 two fine males t shot by Dr. Merrill near Brownsville while I was up the 

 river. 



Cyanospiza cyanea, (L.) Bd. — Indigo-Urd. 



I have to note seeing a number of these beautiful and familiar birds 

 ou the E,io Grande, at a ranche, when our boat stopped for wood on 

 April 15th. While the crew were cutting the wood, I improved the delay 

 by taking the gun and sauntering about. I must have seen at least a 

 dozen of these birds, of both sexes. They persisted in either staying 

 on the farther side of an impenetrable brush-fence or else out in the 

 thicket over a swamp. To shoot them in either case would have been 

 unprofitable, for I could not have recovered the birds. They were sing- 

 ing very sweetly, and were the only ones I met during the trip. 



* [Tho plumage is absolutely that of the mature female, to which sex any ornitholo- 

 gist would refer the specimen without hesitation but for the author's positive testi- 

 mony to the contrary.— E. C] 



t See Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. ii. u. 4, 109, Oct. 1877. 



