Page:Notes on the Ornithology of Southern Texas.djvu/42

Rh placed in the top of a yucca growing in Palo Alto prairie, about seven miles from the fort. The nests were not more than eight feet from the ground, and were good-sized platforms of twigs, with scarcely any lining. While examining these nests, the parents sailed in circles over- head, constantly uttering a cry much like the bleating of a goat. Each nest contained one egg. The first was quite fresh, and measures 2.35 by 1.91. It is of a dirty-white color, with a few reddish blotches at the smaller end. The second egg was partly incubated. It resembles the first one, but the reddish blotches are rather sparsely distributed over the entire egg. It measures 2.35 by 1.85.

152. Rhinogryphus aura, (Linn.)

Very common at all seasons. Deposits its eggs on the ground, some- times on the open prairie ) at others, in more or less dense chaparral. —(Cathartes a., Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 322. — Sennett, B. Rio Grande, 44.)

153. Catharistes atratus, (Bart.)

About as common as the preceding species, and, like it, breeds on the ground. I have not heard of either species building in trees here, as they are said to do in other parts of Texas. — (Cathartes a., Dresser^ Ibis, 1865, 322.— Sennett, B. Rio Grande, 45.)

154. Columba flavirostris, Wagl.

This large and handsome Pigeon is found in abundance during the summer months, arriving in flocks of fifteen or twenty about the last week in February. Though not very uncommon about Fort Brown, it is much more plentiful a few miles higher up the river, where the dense woods offer it the shade and retirement it seeks. Three nests found in a grove of ash-trees, on the bank of the Rio Grande, near camp at Hidalgo, were frail platforms of twigs, such as are usually built by other Pigeons. Each contained one egg. It would appear from Mr. Sennett's observations, which are more complete than mine, that this Pigeon rarely, if ever, lays more than one egg. These are of a pearly whiteness, and average 1.50 by 1.08. Both sexes incubate. A perfectly fresh specimen has the soft parts as follows: — Terminal half of bill pale horn-color; basal half light pink; margin of eyelids and a ring near its base deep pinkish-red; iris bright orange-yellow, lighter yellow at pupillary margin; legs and feet vivid purplish-red.— (Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 23.— Sennett, B. Rio Graude, 45.)

155. * Melopelia leucoptera, (Linn.)

Yerv common during the summer months. The nests as a rule are smaller and more frail than those of the Carolina Dove, and the eggs have a decided creamy tinge, which is rarely lost after blowing, at least