324 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMEEICAF BIEDS. 



decorated with a few lichens, but such ornamentations are rather unusual, as 

 far as my observations go. The outer diameter of an average-sized nest is 

 about 34 inches by IJ inches in depth; the inner, 2 inches by three-fourths of 

 an inch in depth, barely deep enough to keep the eggs from rolling out. 



In southern Arizona their nests may be looked for in mesquite trees, cotton- 

 woods, oaks, and rarely in willows, all the nests examined by me being placed 

 on forks of horizontal hmbs, from 8 to 50 feet from the gi-ound, generally from 

 10 to 18 feet up. Dr. J. C. Merrill found it nesting in retama bushes, Parkinsonia 

 aculeata, in Texas, rarely over 6 feet from the ground. I found my first nest of 

 three fresh eggs on April 27, 1872, and the latest on July 16. This contained 

 two fresh eggs, and one of the Dwarf Cowbird, which occasionally lays in the 

 nest of this species, two such instances having come under my observation. 



Dr. J. C. Merrill, in his notes on the "Ornithology of Southern Texas," says: 

 "A nest of this species, found May 10, 1877, contained a young Dwarf Cowbird 

 and three addled eggs, which latter I removed. On revisiting the same nest ten 

 days later I found three fresh eggs, on which the female was sitting. As the 

 young Cowbird could not have been fledged by this time, it would seem as 

 if the Flycatchers, on finding that their eggs had been removed, had thrown 

 out the parasite egg and laid again." ^ 



An egg is deposited daily, and incubation lasts about twelve days; in this 

 the male assists to some extent, as I have on two occasions seen one sitting on 

 the eggs. I believe two broods are occasionally raised in a season. On June 6 

 I found a nest of the Vermilion Flycatcher in a small grove of cottonwood trees, 

 with no other shrubbery nearer than 600 yards; it was placed on a horizontal 

 fork of one of these trees, about 20 feet from the ground, and contained three 

 fresh eggs; close by the male was feeding a full-grown young bird; no other 

 pair appeared to occupy this grove, and it seems very probable that it belonged 

 to these birds. The fact that I also found fresh eggs as late as July 16 further 

 strengthens this supposition. The majority of these Flycatchers return to their 

 winter homes in Mexico during the latter part of October. 



From two to three eggs are laid, generally three. I never found more in a 

 nest. They are usually short and rounded ovate in shape; the shell is close 

 grained and lusterless. The ground color varies from pale cream to buff, and 

 the markings, which are generally heaviest about the larger end of the egg, 

 consist mostly of bold, irregular blotches and spots of clove and sepia brown, 

 drab, and lavender gray. The egg does not resemble that of any of our Fly- 

 catchers, and is a handsome and striking one. Occasionally a specimen is found 

 in which the markings are small and nearly evenly distributed over the entire 

 surface, and in others they form a well-defined wreath, leaving both ends almost 

 immaculate. 



The average measurement of fifty eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 17.48 by 13.05 millimetres, or about 0.69 by 0.51 inch. 

 The largest egg of the series measures 18.54 by 13.97 millimetres, or 0.73 by 

 0.55 inch; the smallest, 15.75 by 12.70 millimeters, or 0.62 by 0.60 inch. 



' Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. I, 1878, p. 142. 



