THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



39 



NESTING OFTHE PAINTED BUNTING 



This beautiful member of our Fringillidae 

 arrives in this locality from its winter home 

 in Tropical America in the early part of 

 April. About this time the males may 

 be seen flitting around among the small 

 groves and orchards, but the female, being- 

 such an insignificant creature when com- 

 pared to her mate, is not usually noticed as 

 soon, except by a keen observer. 



The adult male is certainly handsome. 

 His head and shoulders are of a deep blue 

 color, his 

 back and 

 the upper 

 ■part of the 

 tail are of 

 several 

 shades of 

 green ; the 

 tail under- 

 neath is 

 yellowish 

 green and 

 the breast 

 and throat 

 are bright 

 vermilion 

 red; the bill 

 is black. 



The fe- 

 male is a 

 uniform plain olive-green in color. 



The majority of the birds commence nest 

 building about the first week in May, and 

 two broods are reared in a season. The 

 present, year I found several sets of the 

 first brood, in which incubation had com- 

 menced, on the 1 2th of May; while of the 

 second, fresh and slightly incubated sets 

 were found from June 25 to about the 

 20th of July. 



As regards choosing a nesting site, the 

 "Mexican Canary" (as they are locally 

 known) seems to have no special choice, 

 as I have found nests in small bushes only 

 about a foot above the ground, and again 

 in rather tall trees. Among those exam- 



YOUNG MALLARDS. 



ined this year, a number were built in 

 osage orange hedges, several in oak and 

 fruit trees, small bushes and shrubs, and a 

 single one was found situated in a small 

 green vine which hung from a willow on 

 the river bank. A number were well con- 

 cealed, and would not in all probability 

 have been found had not the birds left the 

 nests on my approach. Three contained 

 eggs of the Cowbird, but had been de- 

 serted. 



The nests are built by the combined 

 efforts of the male and female, and as they 



are usually 

 handsome 

 little struc- 

 tures they 

 deserve 

 special no- 

 tice. 



Several 

 selected 

 specimens 

 are now be- 

 fore me . 

 Outwardly 

 they are 

 c o m p osed 

 of tissue 

 paper, rags, 

 withered 

 leaves and 

 other 



plants, and leaves and stems ; inwardly of 

 fine fibrous rootlets. The latter almost 

 entirely forms the lining of some speci- 

 mens, while others are neatly lined with 

 dark horse hair. They are substantially 

 made and rather well cupped. 



The full complement of eggs laid is 

 usually four or five, although I have found 

 several incubated sets of three during the 

 past two seasons. In color they vary 

 from pearly white to dull bluish, and are 

 more or less thickly covered with reddish 

 spots. On several specimens in my col- 

 lection the markings are mostly congre- 

 gated at the larger end, while on others 

 they are more evenly distributed. Average 



