036 



BIRDS 01-" SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



the Sau Autouio Valley, but it is nob tUouglit ailvisable to include a list 

 of tbeni here. 



According to the United States Signal Office the mean annual rain-fall 

 at Sau Antonio is 32.75 inches and the mean annual temperature is 

 (59.240 Fahr. 



During the entire time of my visit a very severe drought prevailed in 

 southwestern Texas, the last heavy rain having occurred in the preceding 

 month of August, and the effects of the unusual scarcity of water were 

 observable on all sides. One result, I think due to this cause, was the 

 crowding of the birds along the water-courses, for very few individuals 

 or species were seen at any distance from them. 



One of the most surprising facts that my observations at San Antonio 

 brought out was the considerable number of species that Dresser ap- 

 parently overlooked when he published his well-known paper on the 

 Birds of Southwestern Texas. It will be remembered that by far the 

 larger part of his notes were made near San Antonio ; also there are other 

 species which I found abundantly represented, but which he alluded to as 

 rare or as occurring in small numbers. For instance, he does not appear 

 to have met with JIarporJtynchus rufuSj Farm hicolor, or Qiiiscalus quiscula 

 (cneus, species all of which I found very abuiulant. The Black-throated 

 Sparrow {AmpMspiza hilineata) he gives as a rare bird at San Antonio, 

 where, according to my experience, it is anything but rare. Again, he 

 states that Harris's Sparrow {ZonotricMa querula) " occurs near San An- 

 tonio in the spring when on its migration north," but I found it to be one 

 of the most abundant and characteristic winter birds at that place. There 

 are many other similar instances mentioned in detail farther on under 

 the heads of the different species, all of which go to prove, I think, not 

 that ?.lr. Dresser was a careless or superficial observer, but that the 

 bird-fauna at this particular place has, since the time he wrote (18G3-'G4) 

 been undergoing a very decided change. In this connection the follow- 

 ing list of the birds found in Bexar Count}' will doubtless prove interest- 

 ing. It includes species observed at Sau Antonio, on the Medina and 

 Attascosa Rivers, by Dresser, and at Sau Antonio and Leon Springs by 

 myself. 



List of birds found in Bexar County. 



1. Colymbus nigricoUis califoniiciis. 



2. PodilymLns podiccps. 

 ^. Sterna liirnndo. 



4 Aiibiuga anliiiiga.. 



f). Merganser ainericanua. 



(i. Lophodytes cuciillatns. 



7. Anas boselias. 



8. Anas obsenra. 

 !). Anas strejjera. 



10. Anas carolinensis. 



11. Anas discora. 



12. DaCda acuta. 



13. Aix sponsa. 



14. Cben byperbore.a nivalis. 



1."). Anser albifrons gambeli. 



IG. Branta canadensis. 



17. Branta canadensis buteliinsii. 



18. Tantalus loculator. 



19. Botaurus lentiginosus. 



20. Botaurus exilis. 



21. Ardca bcrodias. 



22. Ardea eandidissiina. 



23. Ardea egret ta. 



24. Ardea rufescens. 

 2.'). Ardea pcalei. 



26. .\rdea tricolor ruficollis. 



