THE MUSEUM. 



39 



seen. Composed of weed stalks. 

 Situated near end of horizontal limb 

 of hackberry tree in motte, seventeen 

 feet from the ground. Nest poorly- 

 made. 



April 4, 1896. Three fresh eggs. 

 Birds seen. Nest composed of weed 

 stalks. Situated on projecting limb of 

 mossy Black Jack tree, about thirteen 

 feet up. Near a ravine not a great 

 distance from Arroya Medio. 



April 6, 1 896. Two eggs in which 

 incubation had begun. Bird on nest, 

 composed of weed stalks and grass, 

 situated in crotch of post oak in belt 

 of post oaks. 



As is seen from the above summary, 

 three eggs aie more often laid than 

 two. (Farther north, in McLennan 

 county, my friend, Mr. Strecker in- 

 forms me that two eggs are the usual 

 complement.) Weed stalks seem to 

 be a very popular building material. 

 This is the slender stemmed weed 

 known commonly as the "Broom 

 weed " Grass is some times a consti- 

 tuent Sticks are rarely found pres- 

 ent in the structure; though occasion- 

 ally an old hawks nest is appropriated 

 and in that case the base is composed 

 of sticks upon which is built their prop- 

 er nest of weeds and grass. Owls do 

 not adopt the nests of this bird as 

 commonly as they do those of the Red- 

 tail Hawk. 



It seems that nidification begins a 

 trifle earlier than is mentioned by 

 authorities, as I found no nests with 

 eggs after April 6 



They seem to prefer the prairies to 

 the wooded districts. I never once 

 found a nest of the Caracara located in 

 bottom land where the trees are high 

 and nests difficult to find. There is 

 no difficulty in finding their nests, as 

 they can some times be seen for miles. 



In some instances where embryos 

 were present, I noted that some were 

 developed more than others in the 

 same nest; sometimes the difference 

 was very marked. 



JAMKS J. C.\RROLL, 



Belton, Texas. 



Three Birds of Interest. 



This last fall I have had access to 

 some very interesting literature rela- 

 tive to the ornithology of that strange, 

 and to most of us little known land. 

 New Zealand. Australia and New 

 Zealand stand alone from the rest of 

 the world in their zoological position 

 as in their geographical situation. 

 They almost seem like fragments of a 

 previous age set down in our times. 

 Isolated as they are now, though once 

 connected with Southern Asia, the 

 laws of evolution have developed from 

 the same general stock a fauna and 

 flora peculiar to these islands, and in 

 many ways entirely different to that 

 of the rest of the world; where con- 

 stant inter-communication between its 

 parts has caused the same general 

 scheme of development to be followed. 



These few notes, though not origi- 

 nal, and drawn mostly from Sir John 

 Butler's most excellent work, may 

 prove of interest and perhaps of profit 

 to those of us to whom literature on 

 this interesting subject is unobtainable. 



Three birds seem to stand out with 

 peculiar distinctness in the Maoriland 

 ave fauna. These three species repre- 

 sent, in a way, the three great ques- 

 tions in zoology — what was, what is 

 and what can or wifl be. These three 

 are the kiwi orapteryx, the huia (Het- 

 eraulocha acutirostris) and the kia 

 Nestor notabalisj. 



The kiwi is interesting as being the 

 sole surviving member of that strange 

 group of extinct, wingless birds of 

 which the gigantic dinomis was a type. 

 Though of value in itself it is most in- 

 structive when studied in relation with 

 its cousin, the moa or dinomis. The 

 Moa stood from ten to twelve leet in 

 height, and from the abundance of its 

 remains must have been very common 

 at no very remote date. The bones 

 show no signs of fossilization and in 

 many cases still retain their inherent 

 grease. Some few feet have been 

 found with the integumen and all the 

 toes intact. Many of the Maori claim 

 that they are still to be found in the 



