78 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



both appear equally as watchful and solicitous, circling around and croaking as one 

 approaches their nests or near their young, ( grayish little fellows that leave the nest 

 as soon as hatched.) The earliest arrival noticed in the State was at Neosho Falls, 

 April 21), 187i). In this flock, as in all others seen at or about the time of their ar- 

 rival, the sexes apv>oi\red to be about equally divided, and I am inclined to think 

 further examination will prove the birds to be joint workers in the hatching and 

 rearing of their young. And with a view to remove doubts, I trust all naturalists 

 that are so fortunate as to be upon their breeding grounds during the breeding sea- 

 son, will oarofuUy note and report their observations. 



.^oiAiaxis Nivos.\ (Cass.) Snowy Tlover. Summer resident on the salt plains 

 along the Cimarron river, in the Indian Territory, the northern limits of which ex- 

 tend across the line into southwestern Comanche county; quite common; arrive 

 about the first of May; begin laying the last of May; nest, a depression worked 

 out in the sand; eggs, three, l.L'Ox.DO; pale olive drab, approaching a light clay color, 

 with a greenish tint, rather evenly and thickly marked with irregularly-shaped, 

 ragged-edged splashes and dots of dark or blackish brown. June IS, 1886, I shot 

 two of the birds within the State limits, and saw one more, a female, with two young 

 birds nearly half grown: and just south of the line, in the Indian Territory, I saw 

 several of the birds and started one from a nest in the sand. It was without lining, 

 and nothing near to shelter or hide it from view. The nest contained three eggs, 

 nearly ready to hatch. Their dimensions were 1.20x.90, l.'JOx.Si), l.'-'2x.8;>. In an 

 article published in the July number of the Auk, vol. 3, No. 8. p. 409, I said: "The 

 birds are lighter in color, and the markings about the head not quite so distinct as 

 the pair in my collection, shot at San Diego, California, in November, 1881. I there- 

 fore send two of the skins for examination, as I have not any specimens in the breed- 

 ing plumage from the Pacific coast." This called forth the following note from the 

 editor. Prof. J. A. Allen: "The two birds sent by Colonel Goss are very much lighter 

 in color than the California specimens, taken in the breeding season, but agree ex- 

 actly with a specimen in Mr. Sennetfs collection, taken at .Corpus Christi, Texas, 

 May 24, 1882. These three examples differ markedly from the Pacific coast speci- 

 mens, they showing only the merest trace of the fulvous tinge on the head, while the 

 black markings are much paler, and the upper plumage generally presents a bleached 

 or washed-out appearance. Doubtless additional material will show that the birds 

 of the plains — from Texas northward to Kansas — are well entitled to subspecifio 

 separation." It is my intention to visit the grounds next season for the purpose of 

 procuring additional specimens. 



CoiiiNUS viBQiNiANUS TEXANUS ( Lawr.) Texan Bob-White. The birds are entered 

 in the A. O. U. Check List as " Hab. southern and western Texas, north to western Kan- 

 sas." On receipt of the list, I wrote Prof. Robert Ridgway, a member of the com- 

 mittee that prepared the list, to know when and where in the western part of the 

 State the birds had been taken. In reply, he says: '^ CoUnus virginianus tiwonits. as 

 a bird of Kansas, rests on two specimens, adult females, in the National Museum, 

 labeled, respectively, No. 34,425, Republican Fork. May 27, 18f>4; Dr. Elliott Cones, 

 U. S. A., and No. 34,425, same locality, date, and collector. (See Hist. N. Am. B. Ill, 

 p. 474.) These specimens agree exactly with typical examples of texanus as compared 

 with virgitiianus proper." Since the early settlement of the State I have known 

 through report of military men and hunters, that Bob-Whites were occasionally seen 

 on the Cimarron river. I never met with them there, and had taken it for granted that 

 they wereC. vin/i)ii(j)ii(.s.- but as the birds were found in western Kansas long before our 

 Bob-Whites, in following up the settlements, reached the central portion of the State, 

 I am now inclined to flunk further examination may prove the western bird of the 



