fresh eggs, that recall those of the Red-winged Blackbird in general appearance. The 

 nest is sewed to the leaves about ten inches from where they join the trunk of the plant, 

 and the leaves are about eighteen inches long. Other leaves hanging downward above 

 those on which the nest rests almost conceal it." 



"Nest of May 30. Built in yucca, four feet from the ground. Composed of yucca 

 fiber and fine grasses, and is very similar to that of May 24 in general appearance. 

 The bottom of the structure inside is lined with a soft mat of cotton-waste. Semi- 

 pensile, being sewed to six leaves of the plant, three of which almost conceal the nest 

 from view. The nest measures: depth inside, four inches; depth outside, five and a half 

 inches ; inside diameter at top, four inches. The general shape of the interior is that of 

 a rather large and shallow cup. Contains four eggs, partially incubated. Ground-color, 

 bluish-white, with much the same colored markings as those of the nest of May 24. 

 Their general shape differs, however, as they are much more pointed at one end and 

 flattened a.% the other, the shape reminding one of the eggs of. some of the Plovers. The 

 sewing of the nest reaches on two of the leaves four inches; on one, five inches; on 

 one, three inches; and on the other two, an inch and a half. The nest is fastened to 

 the leaves about five inches from where they join the stem or trunk of the plant, and 

 the leaves to which it is fastened are rather more than twenty inches long. 



"Second nest of May 30. Similar in location to the first nest of same date and 

 built in same kind of plant. Composed of grasses and yucca fiber, the latter mainly, and 

 has in the inside at bottom a very thick luiing of cotton-waste. Is semi-pensile, and is 

 sewed to four green leaves — to one for six inches, the entire wall of the nest for its 

 whole length being fastened. A second is sewed only for half an inch to the wall very 

 close to the bottom of the nest. A third is very similar in its point of attachment, only 

 that it is fastened for a little more than an inch, and the last is fastened for three 

 inches in the ordinary way. The nest is very uneven in shape externally, being frilly 

 six inches deep on one side and not more than two inches deep on the other. The nest 

 has an interior diameter of four and a quarter inches, and is very shallow and cup- 

 shaped, being only two and a quarter inches deep at its deepest part. Four fresh eggs 

 are the contents, and they vary only in not being so pointed as the other set of May 

 30. They are rather larger than any others measured. The general shape of the nest 

 is an uneven, one-sided cup, with its greatest external diameter four and three-quarters 

 inches. It is attached to the leaves about seven inches from the trunk of the plant, and 

 the leaves to which it is attached are twenty-six inches long. It is built but little more 

 than three feet from the ground, and partially concealed by overhanging leaves. 



"The cotton and cotton- waste were doubtless picked up by the birds about the 

 house and near a mill but a little distance away, where the waste is used in polishing 

 machinery, etc. 



"Some pairs of the birds, at least, raise two broods during the season. A fifth nest, 

 completing my series, was found just finished on June 26, and all the eggs, three in 

 number, were deposited by July 1, when the nest was taken. It was built in a sycamore 

 overhanging the wood-road before mentioned, and about forty yards from water. It 

 diflfers greatly from any of the others. 



"Nest of July 1. Built in a sycamore tree, about eighteen feet from the ground. 



