82 Proceedings of the 



ling of the cattle clears a large area around the water 

 tanks, destitute of vegetation but furnishing a good feed- 

 ing ground for the birds. Often their cheery call woula 

 be noted from overhead, and occasionally their more pro- 

 tracted song as a bird would rise in spiral curves high into 

 the air or poise itself on fluttering wings a short distance 

 above the earth. The pale grayish brown and pink of 

 these larks is by no means conspicuous against the light 

 colored sand, and even when I knew that there were birds 

 just ahead of me it required some effort, at times, to make 

 them out, especially if they chose to remain motionless. F. 

 M. Chapman refers the horned larks which he saw at Hal- 

 sey to the prairie form, O. a. praticola, but I believe that 

 the resident sandhill birds are nearer the present variety 

 — at least a female and a male which I took on May 21 and 

 June 1, 1D12, respectively, easily referable to this sub- 

 species. The Desert Horned Lark was noted at Halsey, 

 October, 1910, by M. H, Swenk and probably occurs 

 throughout the year. 



68. Pica pica hudsonia (Sabine) — Magpie. 



A flock of six birds was noted along the Loup east of the 

 Reserve, October 28, 1910, by M. H. Swenk. 



69. Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus) — Blue Jay. 



Several Blue Jays were present in the thickets and 

 scattered timber along the valley. R. H. Wolcott records 

 the finding of Blue Jay nests in July, 1911, but I was not 

 so fortunate, although I saw the birds frequently during 

 the summer. 



70. Conms brachyrhychos Brehm — Crow. 



One or two Crows were noted in the Loup valley from 

 the 26th to the 23rd of August, 1911, but none were seen 

 the following year. The sandhills do not tempt these birds 

 as do more heavily wooded and more cultivated parts of 

 the country. In latter October, 1910, M. H. Swenk did not 

 find the Crow present at Halsey, but at Hazard, about 

 eighty miles southeast, a fiock of over 100 birds was con- 

 spicuously in evidence. 



71. Molothriis ater (Boddaert) — Cowbird. 



I saw a few Cowbirds throughout the summer in the val- 

 ley and hills, although I did not find any evidence of their 

 parasitism in the nests of other birds. More of them were 



