98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1892. 



THE BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA 

 OBSERVED DURING MAY, JUNE AND JULY, 1891. 



BY SAMUEL N. RHOADS. 



With the idea of investigating the avifauna of the southern border 

 of the United States, and collectiug a series of the birds of Florida, 

 Texas and Arizona,^ I left Philadelphia March 26th, 1891, arriving 

 at Jacksonville, Florida, on the fifth of the following month. A 

 sojourn of five weeks was made in the southwestern part of the state 

 and considerable collections obtained. Few facts additional to what 

 has been already written on the bird life of this region were ascer- 

 tained, and it is not my intention to treat in detail of this part of the 

 trip. 



I arrived at Corpus Christi, Texas, May 17th, and here a three 

 weeks' stay was made. I then journeyed westward to Tucson, 

 Arizona, arriving on the tenth of June, and collecting birds 

 in the immediate vicinity until the nineteenth. That morning I 

 took stage for Oracle, a post-hamlet situated in the oak belt forty 

 miles north ward, among the foot-hills of the Catalina Mountains. 

 Collecting Avas carried on in that vicinity until July 2nd, Avhen the 

 mountains were ascended, and I took up my abode for a week in a 

 lumber camp among the pines of Mt. Lemon at an elevation of 

 between 7000 and 8000 ft. and about 2000 feet below the summit of 

 that mountain. 



The birds of southern Texas, especially those in the vicinity of 

 Corpus Christi, have received no small amount of attention from 

 naturalists. Mr. Beckham enumerates eight publications bearing 

 directly on this subject, prior to his own, which appeared in 1887.^ 

 Within a few months ]Mr. Chapman has published a paper^ giving the 

 results of his observations made on exactly the same ground which I 

 covered three weeks later. In fact, I was conducted by Mr. Priour, 

 who acted as my guide, to the same collecting grounds in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of Corpus Christi and along the Nueces River and 



1 Mr. Rhoads has generously presented his entire collection, numbering 

 about one thou.sand skins to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 

 The Texas series numbers 2(3? specimens and the Arizona collection 398. Owing 

 to Mr. Rhoads' absence from Philadelphia when preparing this paper, he was un- 

 able to make a critical examination of the specimens, and at his request I have 

 added utiles on such as exhibited any peculiarities ; these annotations are followed 

 by my initials. — "Witmer Stone. 



2 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. 10, p. 683. 



^ Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. Ill, No. 3. 



