There seems to be considerable uniformity in the character of the materials utilized in nesting. Before us are six nests from Southern California, and, on close examination, each seems to be the exact counterpart of every other. Fine grass, small sticks, thin hairy stems, vegetable fibres and wool, empty cocoons and seed vessels, the latter attached to their stalks, curiously and ingeniously matted together, and presenting a rather even surface, considering the abundance of sticks utilized, make up nearly the entire structure. The cavity exhibits the same materials, but then they are more smoothly adjusted by the builders. None of the nests before us are perfectly round, such as we sometimes see in the Wood Pewee's lichen-clad home, but are somewhat eccentric in contour. The same irregularity is usually a conspicuous feature of the inside. In external diameter they are nearly four inches, and in length vary from one and a half to two, one side being sometimes a half inch thicker than the other, not an accidental occurrence, but probably the result of design, due, no doubt, to the position of the nest upon the branch, the thicker part looking outwardly where exposure is the greater. The depression is two and a half inches wide, and the depth usually but a half, but varying from that to as much as an inch. In the Plate it is represented natural in size, and saddled upon a horizontal branch of the live oak, a short distance in advance of the builders.
The eggs, two or three in number, are of an oblong oval shape, and vary from a greenish-white to a lavender and a grayish-white groundcolor, and are rather strongly marked with small, distinct spots of divers shades of brown, interspersed with fine dottings of slate, which are pretty uniformly diffused over the surface, although most abundant about the larger extremity. The distribution of these spots presents some marked variations, but, according to our experience, a uniformity prevails in eggs of the same clutch. A set of three before us shows the following measurements: .94 by .69, .94 by .68 and .93 by .68. Incubation begins immediately after the eggs are laid, according to Mr. Evermann, and is the exclusive duty of the female for about fourteen days.
The young male partakes of the coloration of both parents, but the adult is a uniform lustrous black, the monotony of which is in a measure relieved by large white patches upon the wings, most of the inner web of each primary feather, excepting the first, showing this latter color. The female is brown, the white on the wings being much restricted, or obsolete. Their entire length is about seven and a half inches, wing three and three-fifths, and tail four and a quarter.