144 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEL-.M. SCIENCE BCLLETIN 2. 6. 
own. Not only do the}' enter the other nests but they may be seen 
industriously carrying in nesting material. This curious habit. I have 
obser\-ed, is indulged in chiefly when the birds are being watched. — 
when they feel their homes may be in danger. While nesting mate- 
rials, such as soft dry grasses, may be carried into any and all of the 
old nests in the tree where a Large Cactus Wren is nesting, only one 
nest will receive a lining of the soft down-like substance that envelops 
the seed of the silk-cotton tree, and there the eggs or young will 
be found. I never ascertained that more than one pair of birds nested 
in a single tree, but found from three to eight nests in a tree occupied 
by a single pair of birds. 
I first took eggs of this species at Ouiribana de Caicara, April lo. 
1898. The clutch contained only three eggs in which incubation was 
far advanced. The nest was an old one, doubtless that of Pitangns 
sulplmratus riifipcnnis with a fresh lining. It was a large globular 
affair composed of dry grasses, set in a tangle of small limbs of a 
scrub oak. about 3.5 m. from the ground. The entrance was at one 
side near the top. In the same tree were six other nests, none of 
which were occupied and there was apparently only the one pair of 
birds in the neighborhood. 
Another clutch of three eggs with incubation far advanced was 
taken April 17th. The nest was aljout 4.5 m. up in a scrub oak. that 
stood well out in the savanna. It was an old nest, globular in form, 
ragged and dilapidated in appearance, but it had been supplied with 
a little fresh lining of soft grasses. A new nest of Pitangns had been 
built in the same tree, not ten feet from the old one, but had been 
deserted by the original owners and the wrens had selected the old 
one in preference. 
A clutch of five incubated eggs of this species (now in the Tring 
Museum), was taken at Caicara, June 27, 1898. They were of a 
"glossy brownish brick-red. darker spots being traceable."' Others 
are "whitish red, the brick-red patches leaving some of the ground 
color free."i They measure "24.5 x 18.5 ; 24.5 x 17.4; 24 x 17.5 mm."i 
The nest in this case was as usual an old one and much dilapidated. 
It was situated about 2.4 m. up in a small scrub oak. There was a 
much newer nest in the same tree not over 1.2 m. from the one con- 
taining the eggs. Both birds were present and manifested much 
concern, scolding me soundly. Before I climbed the tree to search 
'Bcrlepsch & Hanert. p. 4- 
