^0.3.] SENNETT ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF TEXAS. 413 



posed of thorns and dry twigs exteriorly, and lined with iil)rons roots. 

 The eggs are usually five, the outside of the shell is rough and white, 

 the inside is green." 



It will be noticed that no mention is here made of eggs being laid in 

 one nest by several females, the care of them being shared in common, 

 as recorded of C. ani in the West Indies. So near alike are the two 

 species that we should naturally expect their breeding habits would be 

 very similar, and such an extraordinary proceeding as the above would 

 hardly have escaped observation. For habits of C. ani see "Korth 

 American Birds," by Baird, Brewer, and Eidgway, and notes of Mr. Ober 

 in " Catalogue of Birds of Grenada," by George N. Lawrence. 



89. Geococctx californianus (Less.) Bd.— Chaparral Cod: 



From the time of our arrival until we left Lomita, this bird was con- 

 stantly seen. At every turn in the chaparral we came upon one or 

 more ; and so unmolested were they that they took little pains to avoid 

 us, being not even so shy as at Hidalgo the year before. We have 

 passed them feeding on lizards, where the road was wide, and they paid 

 no attention to us, but continued their meal. Upon one occasion my 

 assistant and I, while noisily cantering down the road, wer(», attracted 

 by the sight of a Chaparral Cock feeding upon a good-sized lizard close 

 by the roadway. After passing the bird we halted not three rods away 

 from it, concluding to watch its behavior. We remained for some time 

 loudly discussing it, and, finding it too deliberate in making its meal, 

 we left it, apparently oblivious of our ])roximity. 



On another occasion I shot at a Chaparral Cock some eight or ten 

 feet from the ground on a small dead tree. I fired at long range, and 

 upon going to look for my bird found I had missed it, aad that it had 

 betaken itself to a stake of a brush fence running close by the tree and a 

 few rods farther off, where it stood eying me. Upon the opposite side of 

 the fence I saw its mate jumping about in a thicket, where, after reach- 

 ing the top branches, while I remained quiet and concealed all but my 

 head, it commenced calling to its mate. It was distant from me not 

 more than three rods, and I was apparently unobserved by it, although 

 its mate on the fence kept close watch of me while dressing its plumage, 

 that may have been disarranged by ray shot. The bird's notes were 

 four or five coos, something like a dove's, the last one long drawn out 

 and ending with a falling inflection. It was with quite an efibrt that it 

 uttered its notes, head and tail lowering at ea(;h coo. At the end of 

 the strain it would stretch up to full height, look all about for a moment 

 or two, and repeat the performance. After observing it full twenty 

 minutes, during which time its mate made no response, I made myself 

 conspicuous by swinging my hat over my head, when they both dis- 

 appeared, the one in the thicket giving a harsh and loud cry of alarm,— 

 a trill which might be imitated by touching the tongue to the roof of 

 the mouth and forcing the breath through, at the same time making a 



