265 



three or four eggs, having reasoned upon insufficient premises, as well 

 as in the face of all analogy bearing upon the reproduction of species in 

 this family of birds. 



The material which forms the especial subject of this article consists 

 of a nest and four eggs. 



I am not informed that this number of eggs is tQ be considered as the 

 nest-complement ; nor is there any reason to believe that the clutch, had 

 it been completed, would not have consisted of a greater number. 



The specimens were taken by Mr. A. D. Wilson, topographer of the 

 Southwest Division of Dr. Hayden's Survey, on the 15th of July, 1875, 

 in the Sierra San Juan, Southern Colorado, near the headwaters of the 

 Eio Grande del Norte, eleven miles southwest of Antelope Park, on a 

 rocky plateau, at an altitude of about 12,400 feet. They are deposited 

 in the National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, being No. 17200, S. I. 

 Eegister. The authentication and identification are absolute; and the 

 specimens are the first perfect ones which have been seen in any collec- 

 tion — as far as the writer's information goes. 



The nest, in its present state, ujeasures scarcely five inches in diame- 

 ter by about an inch in depth. It thus seems rather small for the size 

 of the bird, but is probably somewhat compressed in transportation. 

 The shape is saucer-like, but with very little concavity of surface. The 

 bottom is decidedly and regularly convex in all directions, apparently 

 fitting a considerable depression in the ground. The outline is, to nil in- 

 tents, circular. The nest is rather closely matted, the material interlacing 

 in all directions, and retains considerable consistency. The material is 

 chiefly fine dried grass-stems ; with these are mixed, however, a few small 

 leaves and weed-tops, and quite a number of feathers. The latter — 

 evidently those of the parent birds — are embedded throughout the sub- 

 stance of the nest, though more numerous upon its surface, where a 

 dozen or so are deposited; there may haze been some loose ones lost in 

 handling. 



The account of the color of the eggs, given by Mr. Aiken upon im- 

 personal authority as "light bluish-brown", is altogether wrong. Nor 

 does the color of the specimens before me seem to my eye to agree with 

 the expression used by Mr. Allen respecting his specimen — "chocolate- 

 colored". Dr. Brewer's phrase — "rich creamy drab" — is just about 

 the mark, though I hardly perceive a shade of the color to which I attach 

 the name drab. However, " drab" and " dun " are indefinite terms. I 

 should say, simply, that the ground is dull cream-color; and in selecting 

 this term I have the advantage of the opinion of an expert colorist. 

 The general complexion of the egg is very notably different from that 

 of the eggs of either L. albus or L. rupestris, owing to the much fewer 

 and smaller spots. In the species just mentioned, the markings are so 

 strong and so numerous that they confer the general tone; and it is 

 difficult to render an ordinary pen-and-ink stroke legible. In the present 

 case of L. leiwurus, the ground-color is as evident as the markings, and 

 the inscription on the shell is perfectly plain. 



The markings are all small, for the most part sharp and distinct, — 

 the occasional overlapping of the spots j)roducing in no case a blotch of 

 any considerable size — mostly rounded in contour, to all intents distrib- 

 uted evenly over the whole surface, and, of course, innumerable in 

 number. Very few of the sj)ots exceed a large pin's head in magni- 

 tude; the more conspicuous ones are of about such size, while number- 

 less others are dots or mere points. The color of all the markings is 

 the same, though the larger ones seem of a slightly darker shade than 

 tbe others, simply because the pigment is laid on more heavily. This 

 No. 5 3 



