Page:Notes on the Ornithology of Southern Texas.djvu/23

138 111. Myiarchus erythrocercus var. cooperi.

Tyrannus cooperi, Kaup, P. Z. S. Feb. 11, 1851, 51 ("Northern America and Chili").

Myiarchus cooperi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 180 ; Catal. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 132.— Scl., P. Z. S. 1859, 384 ; Catal. 1861, 232, No. 1428 (Mexico; Guatemala).— Scl. & SALV.,Ibis, 1859, 122, 440; 1870, 837 (coast Hon- duras).— Lawr., Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix, 1869, 202 (Yucatan).

Myiarchus crinitus, c. var. cooperi, Coues, P. A. N. S. July 2, 1872, 07 (Tehuantepec, Mazatlan, and Guadalajara, S. W. Mexico; Guate- mala ?).

Myiarchus crinitus var. cooperi, B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B. II, 1874, 331 (Mazatlan, Tehuantepec, and Yucatan).— Lawr., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 4, 1876, 28 (Tapana and Sta. Eugenia, Isth. Tehuantepec ; April ; Dec).

Tyrannus mexicanus, KAUP, P. Z. S. Feb. 11, 1851, 51 (loc. incog.). Myiarchus mexicanus, Lawr., Ann. Lye. N. Y. IX, 1869, 202 (Yucatan); Pr. Boston Soc. June 7, 1871 (Tres Marias Islands, W. Mexico). — Sumichr., Mem. Boston Soc. I, 1869, 557, 560 (Vera Cruz ; hot region).

Myiarchus yucatanensis, Lawr., P. A. N. S. Nov. 21, 1871, 235 (Yucatan, Mus. G. N. 1L.=M. m-exicanus, Ann. Lye. N. Y. IX, 1869, 202 !).

Myiarchus crinitus erythrocercus, Coues & Sennett, Bull. TJ. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr. vol. iv, No. 1, Feb. 1878, 32 (Ft. Brown, Texas). AlguaciJ de Moscas, Tres Marias vernac. (Jide Lawr., I. a).

The occurrence of this variety within our limits was noted in the April (1878) number of the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Since that time I have paid particular attention to the species, and find that it is the only one of the genus that breeds on the Lower Rio Grande, which it does in considerable numbers. In its notes and habits, it appears to closely resemble the M. crinitus. Seven identified sets of thirty two eggs average .93 by .66, the extremes being 1.03 by .73 and .82 by .65. With one exception, no snake-skins were used in the construction of any of these nests. They were composed of felted locks of wool and hairs, and were placed not far from the ground, either in old Woodpeckers' holes or in natural hollows in decayed trees or stumps.

Note. — The eggs of the Myiarchus, as a genus, have a very remarkable family resemblance. They are of a rounded-oval shape, in some instances the relation of the axis to the diameter being as 8J to 7J, and averaging about 8£ to 7. The ground-color varies from a light buff to a dark cream-color 5 over these are distributed two sets of markings, all of them having a longitudinal direction, often narrow lines, leaving broad, unmarked spaces between them, and not unfrequently expand-