SENNETT ON BIEDS OF THE EIO GRANDE OF TEXAS. 9 



numerous, but more distinct and more confined to the larger end than in 

 ludoviciatms. In fact, they are much more like bewicki than ludomcianus. 

 The eggs measure 0.78 by 0.59, 0.75 by 0.59, 0.76 by 0.55, and 0.73 by 

 0.55." 



The remaining set of six eggs was taken May 1 from the same local- 

 ity. The bird was caught on her eggs, and considered just the same as 

 all the others of the colony breeding there, and of which we had a 

 number of adults and young. The eggs vary from the other two sets 

 in the ground-color, in having more markings, and in having purple in 

 with the brown. Their average size is 0.80 by 0.60. The ground-color is 

 decidedly pinkish; the brown specks and blotches are distributed over 

 the whole surface, but forming a thick band near the larger end. The 

 nest of this set measures four inches outside diameter by two inches 

 inside. It is composed of grasses, leaves, and a few stems, and lined 

 with horsehair, a few feathers, and pieces of snakeskins. It was sit- 

 uated in a hollow, live tree, only three feet above the ground. 



249— $ —5.50 X 7.50 x 2.25 x 1.88. Apr. 20, Hidalgo. 



312— <? juv.— 4.62 X 7.00 x 2.25 x 1.31. Apr. 30, Hidalgo. 



313— cf juv.— 4 87 X 7.38 x 2.13 x 1.37. Apr. 30, Hidalgo. 



329— <y —6.00 X 8.00 x 2.25 x 2.13. May 2, Hidalgo. 



3.30— c? jav.—5.50x 7.55x2.00x1.38. May 2, Hidalgo. 



Thrtothorus bewicki, {Aud.) Bp. — Bewick'' s Wren. 



This Wren is everywhere as common on the Southern border as is our 

 House Wren in the North. I found them breeding in the woods, but 

 rarely in the openings of the chaparral, among the cactus, in the 

 thatched jacals of the towns, aud most abundantly in the brush-fences. 

 1 did not find them as noisy as our House Wrens, but still lively and 

 sweet songsters. Broods of full-grown young were about by the first 

 of May. I can account for our not securing any eggs of this species by 

 our being rather late in the season for their first laying, and also, by 

 their very domestic habits; and as we were collecting most of the time 

 away from the settlements, we quite naturally neglected those birds 

 near at hand. I saw none of var. leucogaster of this species, and no 

 House Wrens, Troglodytes aedon. 



124— <? —4.87 X 7.00 x 2.06 x 2.00. Mar. 31, Brownsville. 



160—^ —5.12x7.00x2.12x2.00. Apr. 5, Brownsville. 



294— ^ —5.50 X 7.12.x 2.12 x 2.25. Apr. 28, Hidalgo. 



302— <? juv.— 5.00 X 7.00 X 2.00 x 2.00. Apr. 29, Hidalgo. 



ALAUDIDJE. 



Eremophila alpestris chrysol^ma, {Wagl.) Coues. — Southwestern 

 Horned Baric. 



1 first met this bird at Galveston, on the dry, sandy ridges adjoining 

 the salt-marshes. It was in conapany oftentimes with Plectrophanes 

 maccotvni, McCown's Bunting. In the vicinity of Brownsville I fre- 

 quently saw it along the roadside, in the small stretches of prairie a 



