No.Z.] SENNETT ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF TEXAS. 421 



near Corpus Christi Bay, tlie first specimen of this large Hawk taken 

 within our limits. I took a set of its eggs, however, the year before, a 

 few miles from Brownsville, wrongly identifying them as Archibuteo 

 ferrughiens. 



In May, 1878, while at Lomita Eauch, Dr. Merrill WTote me from 

 Brownsville of his just taking two eggs of the same species and a bird. 

 Our two specimens were identified about the same time iu Washington, 

 and reported in the same number of "The Country," July 13, 1878. 

 The remarks in my notes of 1877, therefore, about the two eggs found 

 near Brownsville, must illustrate this species, instead of A. ferrugineus, 

 which still remains unknown to the Lower Eio Grande. 



The dimensions of my bird, taken while in the flesh, are as follows : 

 Length 20.50 ; extent 56.50 ; wing 17.50 ; tail 8.00 ; culmen 1.10 ; tarsus 

 3.35; middle toe and claw 3.50. Iris hazel; cere pale green ; bill light at 

 base, black at tip ; feet yellow. Dissection showed the ovaries greatly 

 excited, the largest egg being three-eighths of an inch in diameter. 



This bird is not uncommon about the sand ridges near the coast. For 

 nesting it selects the Yucca or Spanish bayonet, which there attains at 

 best a height of ten or twelve feet, and fills up the entire top with its 

 bulky structure of sticks and twigs. The two eggs, taken from separate 

 nests by Dr. Merrill, are a trifle smaller than my clutch of two taken 

 the season before. The four eggs average 2.37 by 1.89. 



107. PoLTBORUS THARUS AUDUBONI (Cass.) Eidg. — AudiibovCs Cara- 

 cava. 



This species, although seen less frequently at Lomita than about 

 Brownsville, is not uncommon. The much taller growth of timber there 

 allows it to build its nest much higher than at Browns^111e. April 21, 

 two eggs were taken from a nest, forty feet high, in a hackberry-tree. 

 They were hard sat upon, and the parent did not leave them until the 

 nest was nearly reached. One of the eggs is the lightest I have seen, 

 the larger end showing mixed brown and white, and a few dark blotches 

 being about the centre. On May 14, from a nest at least twenty feet 

 high, were taken three half- grown young. The old birds were very 

 fierce, but the young oft'ered no resistance. No cry was uttered by 

 either old or young. When placed upon the ground, the young birds 

 could just hop about. Their crops were .filled with mice. Their 

 plumage is as foUows : Crown dark brown, the feathers finely edged 

 with reddish; i^rimaries almost black; secondaries brown; back, tail, 

 and scapulars light brown, edged largely with rufous ; neck all around, 

 throat, jugulum, and tail-coverts bufi"; breast more rufous; belly streaked 

 brown and ochraceous; thighs, sides, and shoulders brown, with rufous 

 edgings; legs yellow; toes plumbeous and yellow; cere orange; bill 

 blue, tipped yellowish-white ; iris brown. 



A young just from egg was brought me. It is covered with coarse 

 hair-like down and light buft' all over, except crown, wings, and a line 

 down the back, which are black. 



