334 NESTS AND EGGS OK 



601. Passerina ciris (Linn.) [251.] 



Painted Bunting. 



Hab. Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, north to North Carolina and Southern Illinois, south in 

 winter to Panama. 



Called Nonpareil, Painted Finch and " Mexican Canary." In 

 Mexico and in some of the Southern States it is a favorite cage-bird. 

 The male is a bird of handsome variegated plumage — blue, green, ver- 

 milion-red, yellowish-green, etc., and the female plain olive-green. A 

 common species in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, nesting 

 in May, June and July, often rearing two broods in a season. In 

 Georgia, Mr. Perry states that he has found nests as early as April 7 

 and as late as July 20 with eggs. A nest before me collected by Mr. 

 G. Noble, of Savannah, Georgia, is composed of leaves, bark strips, 

 twigs, rootlets and fine grasses. It is on the whole a neat, compact 

 structure. The nest is sometimes lined with horse hairs. It is built in 

 the smallest bushes, in saplings and also in the tallest trees. Mr. 

 Perry has found two or three nests in a single tree, and one nest built 

 upon another, with eggs in the cavities of both. 



The eggs are four or five in number, dull pearly-white or bluish, 

 speckled and blotched with reddish-brown particularly at the larger 

 end; average size .79X.60. Four eggs measure .76X.57, .75X.55, .80 

 X.60, .80X.57. 



602. Sporophlla morelleti sharpei Lawr. [252.] 



Sharpe's Seed-eater.4^ 



Hab. Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and adjacent parts of Mexico. 



This curious little Sparrow is found in the Rio Grande Valley 

 in Southern Texas and adjacent portions of Mexico. Dr. Merrill 

 states that it is not uncommon in the vicinity of Fort Brown. 

 The birds wefe usually seen in patches of briers and low bushes at no 

 great distance from water, and were very tame. During the breeding 

 season the male has a very sprightly song much resembling that of the 

 Indigo Bunting, but sweeter. At least two pairs built within the Fort 

 during the season of 1877. One of the nests, found early in May, was in 

 a bush about three feet from the ground ; it was not pensile ; placed be- 

 tween three upright twigs, composed entirely of a peculiar yellow 

 root. This was destroyed by a violent storm before the eggs were de- 

 posited. A second nest found May 25, placed in a young ebony-bush, 

 four feet from the ground, was deserted immediately after completion. 

 It was a delicate structure supported at the rim and beneath by twigs, 

 and built of very fine, dry grass, with a few horse hairs. Unfortu- 

 nately no eggs were obtained. The eggs we believe remain at the 

 present time unknown. 



^•' Sporofihila morelleti (Bonap.), Morellet's Seed-eater in A. O. Check List. 



