SIURUS. 145- 



This is one of the commonest of the winter visitants to Mexico and Central America, 

 being found throughout the country at that season from Mazatlan to Chiriqui. It does 

 not, however, appear to reach the southern continent in its southward flight ; nor have 

 we even seen specimens from the line of railway in the State of Panama. Near 

 Mazatlan Grayson only met with it between November and April in the densest woods, 

 where it was shy, solitary, and silent ^^. Further south its habits are much of this 

 character; but in Costa Rica it has been noticed as early as August''- In Cuba, 

 Dr. Gundlach gives theend of August and the beginning of September as the time of 

 its arrival, and states that it remains in the island in great numbers till the following 

 April ^- It is a bird of solitary habits, and frequents woods at elevations ranging from 

 nearly the sea-level to 5000 feet, living mostly on or near the ground, where it seeks its 

 food consisting chiefly of insects, seeds, and small shells. 



In North America, though generally a bird of the Eastern Province, in high latitudes 

 it spreads across the continent, and has been found in Alaska ^^. It usually arrives 

 from its winter quarters about the beginning of May, and remains far into September. 

 During this time it breeds. Its nest is a domed striicture, placed on the ground in a 

 bank under the shelter of a projecting root or in a thick clump of bushes. It is made 

 externally of wood, mosses, lichens, and dry leaves, with a few stems and broken frag- 

 ments of plants. The entrance is strongly built of stout twigs ; its upper portion is 

 a strong framework of fine twigs, roots, stems, mosses, dry plants, &c.; and the lining is 

 of finer materials of the same kind ^. The song of the male during the mating-season 

 is described as being of excellent quality ^. 



The eggs are stated to vary considerably ; the normal colour is creamy white, marked 

 chiefly at the larger end with mingled dots and blotches of red, reddish brown, lilac, 

 dark purple, and ferruginous, these spots in some cases being collected in a crown round 

 the large end of the egg^. 



Dr. Coues ^^ has taken great pains to collect the references to the literature of this 

 species. 



B. Vertex dorso concolor, superdlia alba. 



2. Siurus noveboraceusis. 



Motacilla navia, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 47' (ex D'Aub. PI. Enl. 753. f. 1). 



Siurus ncevius, Coues, B. Col. Vail. i. p. 299 ^ 



Motacilla noveboraceusis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 958 '. 



Siurus noveboracensis, Sol. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 10*; Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 363'. 



Sciurus noveboracensis, liawT. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 322'; ix. pp. 94 ^ 200'; Bull. U. S. Nat. 



Mus. no. 4, p. 14'; Baird, Eev. Am. B. i. p. 215 "; Frantzius, J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 293"; 



Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 547 " ; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. 283 " ; 



Gundl. Orn. Cub. p. 68". 

 BIOL. CBNT.-AMEE., Aves, Vol. 1, February 1881. 19 



