| OCR Text |
Show 550 SCLATER AND SALVIN ON MEXICAN ORNITHOLOGY. [June 23, " I do not know that these birds ever make a complete nest; but that they sometimes commence to build one I am certain. I once observed a flock of seven or eight Blackbirds busily flying to and from a clump of young giant thistles. On going to the spot, I found they had begun to build a large nest on a broad, horizontal leaf, very much exposed to sight. No other bird would have chosen such a frail foundation to build upon; for, however large and stiff these leaves are, they rapidly shrink up as the plant grows; and this one would certainly have dropped its burden within ten or fifteen days. The nest was made in a very slovenly manner, being composed of large sticks, rags, and other things, piled without any regularity ; the birds fluttered round as if anxious for its safety while I examined it, and resumed their work as soon as I withdrew; but after two days they suddenly forsook it. I have since observed another flock of Blackbirds begin a nest, in a poplar tree; but this was also left unfinished. " In autumn, when the Blackbirds congregate in flocks of tens of thousands, so that the ground where they feed seems carpeted with black, and the trees where they alight to have a black foliage, I often wonder that the little birds in whose nests they lay do not become extinct, or all but extinct, by their means. Though I have been familiar with this bird since I was a child, when I used to find its 'lost and wasted eggs' on the walks, and remove them in pity from the nests of little birds, I have not yet ceased to wonder at its habits. How strange that it should be so disorderly in the midst of the general order of nature! Or must we come to consider these habits 'of the Molothrus bonariensis ** not as especially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general law,' namely, transition? « Truly yours, " WILLIAM H. HUDSON." The following papers were read :- 1. On some recent Additions to the Avifauna of Mexico. By P. L. SCLATER, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., and OSBERT SALVIN, M.A., F.L.S., &c. A series of birdskins recently submitted to our examination by M. A. Boucard, of Paris, contains some examples of Mexican birds, obtained by one of his correspondents in Southern Mexico, which have not previously come under our notice in collections from that country. There are five species, concerning which we have the following notes to communicate :- 1. TURDUS FLAVIROSTRIS, SW. An adult female of this fine Thrush from San Juan del Rio, a town in the centre of the state of Oaxaca. It appears to be a western species exclusively. |
