Western Blue Grosbeak 401 
Dennis Gale’s notes contain the following account 
of the breeding habits: “‘ The nest is low down in bushes 
or small trees, usually in deep shade, constructed chiefly 
of stems of wild vines, and rather shallow and slight 
in the middle, so that eggs can be seen from below. 
The eggs are generally four in number, and vary a good 
deal in shape, size and markings; the ground-colour 
is some shade of pale green, speckled with umber or 
reddish-brown, chiefly at the larger end. Full clutches 
of fresh eggs are to be met with at the beginning of June, 
but a second brood is often raised later in the season. 
Both sexes assist in incubation, and the Cowbird not 
infrequently imposes on them.” (Plate 15.) The eggs 
measure 1:05 x °7. 
Genus GUIRACA. 
Finches of medium size—wing 3 to 3-5, with a large conical and 
somewhat compressed bill, the culmen rounded, not ridged ; the lower 
mandible decidedly deeper than the upper; nostril exposed; wing 
fairly long and pointed, the difference between the primaries and 
secondaries about equal to the tarsus, the ninth primary longer than 
the fifth ; tail of moderate length—over -8 in the wing—nearly even. 
Sexes distinct, male blue, female brown. 
This genus includes only one species ranging over the southern 
United States and Mexico and south in winter to Cuba and Nicaragua. 
In Colorado only the larger western form occurs. 
Western Blue Grosbeak. Guiraca caerulea lazula. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 597a—Colorado Records—Ridgway 73, p. 183; 
Baird, Brewer & Ridgway 74, p. 516; Henshaw 75, p. 298 ; Drew 85, 
p- 16; Beckham 85, p. 142 ; Cooke 97, pp. 109, 167, 216; Dille 02, p. 
94; 09, p. 87; Felger 02, p. 294; Henderson 03, p. 108; 09, p. 238; 
H. G. Smith 05, p. 82; 08, p. 188. 
Description.—Male—General colour a rich ultramarine blue, back 
slightly shaded with dusky ; a narrow black edging round the base 
of the beak ; wings and tail dusky, with blueish edgings, middle wing- 
coverts rich chestnut, greater coverts tipped with paler chestnut; 
under tail-coverts and tips of the outer tail-feathers narrowly tipped 
ce 
