Summer Birds Near Lake Caddo 165 



On returning- a few days later to show the site to 

 Messrs. S. Paul Jones and Warner Taylor, Wilson Clnb 

 members from Madison, we were surprised and delighted 

 to see the male circling over the Hock in company of an- 

 other mate, perhaps the widow from Ferry Bluff! Though 

 jDirates, and pests to the neighboring farmers without 

 doubt, Ave could not help hoping that these birds, so in- 

 spiring to observe, would nest again on picturesque Gib- 

 raltar, probably their home for ages. 



No op]>ortunity presented itself to investigate a report 

 that Duck Hawks nested in the Devil's Lake region, a 

 scant five miles to tlie north, where the necessary combi- 

 nation of precipice and water also occurs. 

 ilfiliraiilcre, Wis 



SUMMER BIRDS IX THE VICINITY OF 



LAKE CADDO, HARRISON COUNTY, 



TEXAS 



BY ALVIN R. CAHN 



Probably few states in the union can compare with 

 Texas from the point of view of topographic diversity 

 and climatic variations. From tlie swampy marshes on 

 the gulf coast to the heavily timbered regions, and from 

 the great open, semi-arid plains to the mountainous re- 

 gions of the trans-I'ecos country, there extends practically 

 every possible type of environment one could hope to find 

 within any single state. Such diversity of conditions 

 would lead even the uninitiated to sus])ect a large biota in 

 point of number of species, and such a suspicion is most 

 certainly verified in fact. Coupled with this environmental 

 diversity is the fact that Texas lies at the focal point of 

 many of the routes taken by our migratory birds, so that 

 it is not surprising that this state should head the avi- 

 faunal list Avith 54G species within its borders. Within 

 this area of 265,780 square miles the species of the east 

 meet many of those of the west, and a certain amount of 

 over-lapping occurs. 



