12 LIFE HISTOEIES OP NOETH AMERICAN BIEDS. 



northwest of San Jose), where, along the hedgerows and in the scrabby timber, 

 as well as on the skin of the cattle, they find those insects which constitute their 

 food. The woodticks, or garropatos, from the legs and about the head and neck 

 of the cattle are esteemed above all else a favorite morsel. In this locality 

 I have collected three nests during the month of May, the first with nine 

 eggs, the second with eleven, and the last with thirteen. Some years ago I 

 remember seeing a nest, situated in the branches of a mango tree, that 

 contained fourteen eggs. 



"The nests that I have collected agree with the observations made by 

 Zeledon. The structure is voluminous, composed chiefly of coarse dead twigs, 

 but presents -one peculiarity not observed in any other bird, namely, the nest 

 being lined with fresh green leaves. My three specimens were all placed in 

 low trees, and neither was found at a greater height than 3 metres. One had 

 been built above an old nest of one of the larger Tyrannidce. 



"It will not be without interest, I think, to insert my observations relative 

 to one of these nests. On the 20th of May I noticed a ZopilotiUo with a dry 

 stick in his bill, which was immediately carried to a point in the hedgerow, where 

 it was deposited with three others. After assuring myself that the bird was 

 building its nest there, I retired, with the intention of returning at a more oppor- 

 tune moment. And when, one week later, I returned to the same spot, what was 

 my surprise to see not only the nest completed and containing six eggs, but 

 more than this — in the thorns and leaves about it were scattered seven more 

 eggs! As a consequence, if that collection was not the work of the Zopilotillos 

 collectively, the poor owner would have had to deposit three eggs daily. In 

 the finding of some of the eggs scattered in the leaves was revealed one of the 

 architect's peculiarities. A hole had been left in the center of the nest and only 

 recently filled with leaves, whose fresh green color testified that they had been 

 cut and placed there later than the others forming the carpeting to the bottom 

 of this common incubator. 



"The eggs were all fresh, the six occupying the nest having the character- 

 istic rough, white, calcareous surface, perfectly clean, and without the slightest 

 variation in color. Not so with the eggs found about the outside of the nest. 

 Those found in contact with the leaves had taken on a dirty yellowish tinge. 

 Those held suspended among the leaves and thorns showed various spots and 

 lines of the lustrous blue color forming the base for the chalky external coat. 

 The scratches had been caused by a too close contact with the thorns."^ 



There can no longer be any doubt that the general nesting habits of this 

 species are similar to those of the Ani, and that frequently more than one female 

 lays in the same nest, although this habit may not be so universal as with the 

 preceding species. 



The three sets of eggs from the Ralph collection, taken near Brownsville, 

 Texas, contained, respectively, four, five, and five eggs; in two of these the 

 eggs Avere fresh, and in the other incubation had just commenced when taken, 



' The Auk, \"ol. IX, 1892, pp. 325, 326. 



