400 NESTS AND EGGS OP 



midst of a clump of brambles. The late Dr. Wheaton mentions finding it "on the 

 top of vine-covered stumps, in wild-gooseberry bushes overhanging water, and in 

 brush-heaps," and says: "I have found the nest ready for the reception of eggs 

 as early as April 17." Mr. Davis states that in Cook county, Texas, the Redbird 

 begins nesting before the trees put forth their leaves. The nest is a loose, frail 

 structure, made of slender twigs; strips of grape-vine bark, stems, grass, and a few 

 leaves, lined with fine rootlets and grasses, sometimes with horse hair. There is a 

 great diversity in the coloration and general appearance in a largo series of the 

 eggs of this species. The ground-color in the various specimens runs from white 

 through bluish or greenish- white to that of a brownish tint. The markings are 

 reddish-brown, lavender and gray of various shades and are pretty generally scat- 

 tered over the entire surface; in other specimens they tend to cluster more thickly 

 about or on the larger ends; some are so thickly marked as to almost conceal the 

 ground color. The specimens generally considered handsomest are those with a 

 greenish-white ground heavily and distinctly blotched with reddish-brown. Some 

 of the smaller eggs and more finely dotted ones resemble very closely those of the 

 Cowbird. Mr. Ragsdale has an egg of this species with a large chocolate blotch 

 covering one-fourth of the shell. The eggs are three or four in number.* Eight 

 eggs (two nests of four each) measure respectively: .98x.71, .93x.73, 1.02X.74, 1.06X.74, 

 .98X.77, l.OOx.75, 1.01x.76,'1.03x.78; average l.OOx.73. 



593o. ABIZOITA CABDIITAL. Gardlnalis cardinalis superbus Ridgw. Geog. 

 Dist. — Southern and Western Mexico, south to Mazattan. 



A bird very similar to C. cardinalis but larger, and the female more richly 

 colored. Its general habits, nesting and eggs are not in anywise distinguishable 

 from those of the Redbird of the Eastern States. 



5936. ST. LUCAS CARDINAL. Cardinalis cardinalis igneus (Baird.) Geog. 

 Dist.- — Lower California, north to Lat. 29°. 



A smaller bird than superbus and called Fiery-red Cardinal as its specific name 

 implies, but is not any more so than cardinalis, and its habits, nests and eggs are 

 the same. 



593c. GRAY-TAILED CARDIITAL. Cardinalis cardinalis canicamdus Chap- 

 man. — Geog. Dist. — Southwestern Texas, south into Northeastern Mexico. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman describes the male of this subspecies as being similar to 

 Cardinalis cardinalis, but with a less black frontlet; the female averaging grayer 

 than the female of C. cardinalis, and with the tail feathers broadly margined with 

 gray instead of being narrowly edged with olivaceous brown. The type specimens, 

 a male and female, were taken by Mr. Chapman thirty miles west of Corpus Christl, 

 April 23, 1891. t Specimens of the nests and eggs of this bird in my collection, taken 

 near Corpus Christi, appear to be identical with those of C. cardinalis of the 

 North. Eight eggs average in size .97x.74 inches. 



593d. FLORIDA CARDIITAL. Cardinalis cardinalis fioridanus Ridgw. Geog. 

 Dist.— Florida. 



♦ There are a number of sets of five eggs of the Cardinal on record, but I have never 

 seen or taken that number from a single nest myself. Sets of three are as common as 

 those of four. 



t For complete description see Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. Ill, p. 324. 



