Breeding

Breeding of Violaceous Euphonia is from January to August on Trinidad, with a peak from May to July (ffrench 1991). Active nests with nestlings are reported in Suriname in January, and with eggs in February, April, and November (Haverschmidt 1968). A nest from Pará, Brazil was encountered in October (Pinto 1953). The nest is spherical, and is composed of a "mass of dead leaves, rootlets, and strands of mom, and there is an inner cup of broad dead leaves (of grass or bamboo) and fern" (Belcher and Smooker 1937) or "a ball of dead grasses and leaves with a side entrance" (Haverschmidt 1968). The same nest sometimes is used for another brood (Haverschmidt 1937). Also observed to appropriate an abandoned nest of Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes canayensis) (Snethlage 1935).

The clutch is three to five eggs; Belcher and Smooker (1937) give the usual clutch size on Trinidad as four, but in Suriname it is three (Haverschmidt 1968). Only the female incubates (Belcher and Smooker 1937), but both sexes provision the nestlings (Isler and Isler 1987). The eggs are white to pinkish white, marked with reddish spots, mostly at the larger end (Belcher and Smooker 1937, Haverschmidt 1968). The nestling period is 21 days (Ricklefs 1976).