140 MNIOTILTID^. 



Hah. North America, Texas ^ » 9,_Quatemala, Alta Vera Paz, near Tactic {0. 8>). 



The early history of this rare species is given as follows by Salvin in Eowley's ' Orni- 

 thological Miscellany : ' — 



" The only time that I met with this bird was during my first visit to Vera Paz, in 

 Guatemala, in 1859. I was riding to Coban, the chief town of Alta Vera Paz, on the 

 4th of November, and had just surmounted one of the ridges of the mountainous road 

 that leads to the village of Tactic, where I intended passing the night, when two birds 

 attracted my attention, and I secured both. On examination at home they proved to 

 belong to an undescribed species ; and the name of Bendroeca chrysoparia was bestowed 

 upon it by Mr. Sclater and myself. 



" The altitude above the sea where I shot these birds is about 4500 feet, or a little 

 more. . . . The birds were, after the manner of their congeners, hopping about the 

 lower branches of the forest-trees, which are there not very high. But I was too intent 

 upon securing the specimens to observe much of their movements and habits. 



" A few years after this (in 1863-64) Mr. Dresser, during his stay in Texas, obtained 

 a single specimen of Bendroeca chrysoparia. He did not shoot it himself, but received 

 it with other Mniotiltidse from a man of the name of Ogden, who shot it at Howard's 

 rancho on the river Medina." 



The three specimens obtained up to 1876 were all figured in the work just quoted ''. 

 In the 'Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club' for 1879 (vol. iv.) we find two 

 further references to this species, the latter account going a long way to complete its 

 history. In April 1878 Mr. G. H. Eagsdale obtained a male specimen in Bosque county, 

 Texas. This example is now in the United-States National Museum ; but no particulars 

 of its capture are given ^ Mr. Brewster, in the same Journal ", fully describes the 

 breeding-habits of the species as furnished to him by Mr. Werner, who writes that 

 whilst on a collecting-tour in the mountainous district of Comal County, Texas, he 

 noticed these Warblers, and describes their habits as very similar to those of B. virens, 

 being very active and always on the alert for insects, examining every limb of a tree for 

 them, and now and then darting after them while on the wing. He found them 

 invariably in cedar timber. On the 13th May, after some search, he found a nest 

 containing three eggs, and one of the Cow-Bunting. Three other nests also were 

 discovered, all similar in construction and placed in the forks of perpendicular limbs of 

 Jmiperus virginianus, at a height of from 10 to 18 feet from the ground. The outside 

 of the nest is composed of the inner bark of the above-mentioned tree, interspersed with 

 cobwebs well fastened to the limb, and in colour resembling the bark of the tree on 

 which it is built, rendering it difficult to detect at a little distance. 



Mr. Brewster describes the nest, more fully, as being in general character and appear- 

 ance like that of B. virens, only twice the size. The interior is beautifully lined with 

 the hair of different animals and numerous feathers, those of the Cardinal Grosbeak 



