Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 124

                                
124 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES.

anld evergreen berry bushes in a
hilly region  near San    Antonio.
snugly bidden between the foliage
and branches, whi ch    were held
aside to expose the entire nest and
the  four   reddish-brown   dotted
eggs.   In1 our river bottoms the
red bird prefers, as stated, some
locality with }plenty  of foliage,
but often also it is met with with-
out much protection whatever be-
tween the forked branches of a
small bhaell errv or boxelder tree
or ill tih thickets of vines. and in

nest to give it extra strong bhold.
Such   breeding nests. of course,
should not be disturbed pulrpose-
ly, as sole1 vaidals are wont to
lo: however, thie b feeding 1bird
invariably returns to its nest if
frightened away, as long as the
eggs are not disturblcd or broken
by  a careless hand.
Without wishing to go into fur-
ther detail. in   a  general way,
concl(erning  ur Texas red bIird, I
apl )e0d tle following clserlvations
of the cclelbrated nIaturi;li-t and

. -     ; n"
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9 .. :

A  TI CIAL  RE.   ltt  NEST AA: i Ei;Is I  .  Y tii.i uw  H R Y Bti  l t

open forest and mesquite and oak
brush. Whilst      with   a   fish-
ing party south of the river bot-
tom, we met several breeding red
birds along the river bank, and
one particularly fine nest entirely
hidden between the foliage of an
elder tree ovehanging the river
bank and containing its charac-
teristic four small-dotted and com-
paratively large oval eggs, was
exceedingly attractive, several of
the rank grapevines being inter-
woven   in the base part of the

oritholo'ist.  Audubon, in   II.
Nehrlin' s workli oni Birds of North
America:
"Wherever the cardinal makes
its appearance it is welcomed as a
pet by everyone, by reason of its
brilliant red and glittering color,
and its melodious and rich song,
which is loud and clear, and re-
minds one of the finest tunes of
the flageolet; more and    more,
however, it moderates, until grad-
ually it ceases entirely.  During
mating time the song of the red