640 



BIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



Notwithstanding these favorable conditions birds were very scarce; 

 some species like the Virginia Cardinal and the White-crowned Spar- 

 row were abnndantly represented, bnt of the other si)ecies found there 

 there were comparatively few individuals to be seen. In the immediate 

 vicinity of the village were several wind-engines used for pumping 

 water from wells into storage tanks, troughs, etc., and there was a pond 

 of very foul water near the railway line, of perhaps a quarter of an 

 acre in extent, which had somehow escaped extinction in the general 

 drying up, and about these favored places birds were always to be 

 found when they were not to be seen anywhere else. 



The following species were noted as occurring there, or in Bee County: 



Ammodranms savaiiiiarum perpalli- 



dus. 

 Zonotrichia qiienila. 

 Zouotricbia leucopbrys. 

 Spizella pusilla. 

 Melospiza liiicohii. 

 Pipilo niaculatus nie.i^aloiiyx. 

 Cardinalis cardinalis. 

 Pyrrbtiloxia simiata. 

 Progne subis. 

 Dendroica coroiiata. 

 Lanius ludoviciaiuis oxciibilorides. 

 Autlius peusilvauicus. 

 Oroscoptcs moutauus. 

 Miinus polyglottos. 

 Tbryotboras bewickii inurinus. 

 Troglodytes aad<5u parkiiiaiiuii. 

 Parus bicolor texensis. 

 Parus atricristatus. 

 Parus atricristatus castaueifrous. 

 Kctrulus calendula. 



The above table is more remarkable for the species it does not con- 

 tain than for those which are found therein. The absence of Ghondcstcs 

 granimacus and Amphlsinza hilineata is especially to be noted. 



I arrived at Corpus Christi on January 20 and left there February 

 12, and most of the time was devoted to collecting. But little atten- 

 tion was given to the water-birds, principally on account of the dilli- 

 culty of getting at them and the knowledge that Seunett had devoted 

 nearly all of his time to them on the occasions of his two visits to this 

 place. The surrounding country is a dreary looking waste of cactus, 

 chaparral, and niosquite, the total absence of anything that can be dig- 

 nified by the name of timber giving the landscape a particularly unin- 

 viting aspect, and, as was to have been expected, comparatively^ few 

 species of birds were found, and, with two or three exceptions, those 

 that were seen were but poorly represented in point of numbers. 



Like the other places visited, this locality was suffering greatly from 

 the drought, but the dews compensated largely for the lack of ram, 



