THE OOLOGIST 



213 



Fig. 3. 3. Phainopepla nitens. 

 Phainopepla. 



Ptilogonys nitens Swain- 

 son, Anim. in Menag., 1838, 

 285. (Mexico.) 

 Phainopepla Baird, Rep. 

 Expl. & Surv. R. R. Pac, 

 IX., 1859, 923. Type by 

 orig. desig., Ptilogonys ni- 

 tens Swainson. 

 Range. — Lower Sonoran 

 Zone from central Califor- 

 nia, southern Utah, and 

 southwestern Texas south 

 to Cape San Lucas, Vera 

 Cruz, Puebla, and Valley 

 of Mexico; winters from 

 southern California south- 

 ward; casual in central 

 Nevada and northern Cali- 

 fornia. 

 Personally, I do not recall any 

 good figure or illustration of the nest 

 and eggs of this singular species of 

 bird. Only once in my life have I seen 

 it alive in nature, and that was near 

 Zuni, in Arizona, and I did not collect 

 the specimen. 



The material at hand, consisting of 

 a beautiful nest and two eggs, was 

 taken by Mr. N. K. Carpenter, of Bs- 

 condido, California. (Set mark 23; 

 Eggs in set 2), on the 13th of June, 

 1915. (No. 2538.) Mr. Carpenter says 

 that the nest was built in an upright 

 fork in the top of an oak sapling (live 

 oak?), nine feet above the ground. 

 The female was on the nest and the 

 male close by at the time the speci- 

 men was taken. Apparently, Escondi-' 

 do was the place of collection, which 

 is in San Diego County. 



This nest appears to be made of 

 sage leaves and oak blossoms, without 

 any definition between an inner and 

 an outer part. (Fig. 3.) Outside meas- 

 urement 8 centimeters by 8, and the 

 inside 5.7 x 5 cms. Its cavity is shal- 

 low, and the entire structure is a 



somewhat carelessly constructed 

 affair, as may be appreciated by a 

 study of Figure 3 to the present 

 article. 



Reed says that these birds "make 

 loosely constructed nests of twigs, 

 mosses, plant fibres., etc., placed on 

 branches of trees, usually below 20 

 feet from the ground, in thickets or 

 open woods near water; the eggs are 

 two or three, in number, light grey 

 spotted sharply with black; size .88 x 

 .65" (loc. cit., p. 283). 



Coues's acccount is somewhat at 

 variance with this, for he says: "Nest 

 a slight shallow structure, about 4.00 

 in diameter by 2.50 high, with a cavity 

 about 2.00 deep, saddled on a bough, 

 loosely fabricated of twigs, plant- 

 fibres, and down; eggs 2-5 (rarely 

 single), averaging 0.93 x 0.65, greenish- 

 white, distinctly and profusely 

 speckled, with blackish or dark brown" 

 (loc. cit., p. 361). 



The two eggs at hand are of a pale 

 greenish gray, profusely, and uniform- 

 ly, and very sharply speckled all over 

 with the very finest speckling of 

 blackish-brown. Each measures 2.4 x 

 1.6 centimeters. 



Fig. 4. 4. P o 1 i o p t i 1 a plumbea 

 (Baird). 



Plumbeous Gnatcatcher. 

 Culicivora plumbea Baird, 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., VII., 1854, 118 (Bill 

 Williams Fork [Big Sandy 

 River, Lat. 34 deg. 32 sec. 

 N., Long. 113 deg. 30 min. 

 W.], Arizona). 

 Range. — Lower Sonoran 

 Zone from southeastern 

 California, southern Ne- 

 vada, central Arizona, west 

 central New Mexico, and 

 the Rio Grande Valley 

 south to Cape San Lucas, 

 Lucas, Sonora, Nuevo Leon 

 and Tamaulipas. 



