NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 299 



ing are the same. It is a common bird in the West Indies, and is found regularly 

 In Florida and northward to Georgia, etc. Mr. Stuart states that It breeds In Florida 

 in the months of May and June, building for its nest a frail structure of dry twigs, 

 lined with a few roots, dead moss or fibrous plant stems; it Is placed in low bushes 

 or in trees at a considerable height. The favorite nesting localities are along 

 streams in live oaks. Usually three, sometimes four eggs are deposited; they have a 

 ground color of a creamy, pinkish or rosy tint, spotted, blotched or dashed with 

 umber-brown and lilac-gray. A set of three eggs in my cabinet, taken near Tampa, 

 Florida, May 20, 1885, measure l.OOx.75, 1.02x.76,1.04x.75; another set of three, taken 

 near Thomasville, Georgia, June 4, 1888, exhibit the following sizes: .99x.70, l.OOx 

 .72, l.OOx.73. Mr. Norris has a set of four eggs, taken in Matee, Florida, May 25; 

 these measure .97x.72, .99x.82, .97x.70. .97x.74. 



446. COUCH'S KINGBIRD. Tyrannus melancholicus couchii (Balrd.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Northern portion of Central America, north through Mexico to southern 

 border of the United States (Southern Texas to Arizona). 



This is a common bird from Guatemala north through Mexico to the southern 

 border of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It possesses the same characteristics 

 common to birds of its family. A nest and four fresh eggs are described by Mr. 

 Sennett.* These, together with both parents, were taken at Lomita Ranch, on the 

 Rio Grande, Texas, in 1881. The nest was situated some twenty feet from the 

 ground, on a small lateral branch of a large elm, in a grove not far from houses. 

 It was composed of small elm twigs, with a little Spanish moss, a few branchlets and 

 leaves of the growing elm, lined with fine rootlets and black hair-like heart of the 

 Spanish moss. The outside diameter is 6 inches and the depth 2 inches; inside 

 diameter 3 and depth 1.25 inches. The, eggs, Mr. Sennett says, have a general re- 

 semblance to those of all our Tyrant Flycatchers, but are quite distinct in form, size 

 and ground-color from any he had seen. The blotches are more numerous and 

 smaller; the large end is very round, and the small end quite pointed; the ground- 

 color is rich buff; the blotches are similar to those of the Kingbird's eggs, but more 

 irregularly distributed over the entire eggs; sizes l.OOx.76, .99x.76, .98x.76, .97x.72. 



447. ABKANSAS KINGBIRD. Tyrannus verticalis Say. Geog. Dist.— West- 

 ern North America from the Plains to the Pacific, south through Western Mexico to 

 Guatemala. Accidental in Eastern States — Maine, New York, New Jersey and Mary- 

 land. 



The Western Kingbird possesses the same general traits which are common to 

 the Kingbird of the Eastern States. Colonel Goss mentions it as a common summer 

 resident in middle and Western Kansas, arriving about the first of May; begins lay- 

 - ing in the latter part of the month. Mr. A. M. Shields states that in the region 

 about Los Angeles, California, this species is found nesting from about the first of 

 May until late in July, building in any convenient place; in the frame- work of a 

 windmill, the cornice of a house, on fence posts, in the forks of trees at heights 

 ranging from five to fifty feet. The nest is built of any available material, rags, grass 

 and twigs lined with wool or cotton. Mr. Walter E. Bryant, in his papers entitled 

 "Unusual Nesting Sites," mentions some curious freaks concerning the nesting of the 

 Arkansas Kingbird: An old and much flattened nest of Bullock's Oriole was found 

 rellned, and containing four Kingbird's eggs. A nest was found by Mr. A. M. Inger- 

 soU built upon a fence post more than half a mile from the nearest tree. It was se- 



»Auk, I. p 93. 



