14- Allen, In /Mcmon'am : Georffe B. Seiinett. \^^^ 



I * L Jan 



at Brownsville, as a base of future operations, before the breeding 

 season had fairly commenced. On the evening of the 20th of 

 March, after many vexatious delays, we arrived at Brownsville, 

 our objective point. The country worked over lay between Point 

 Isabel, on the coast, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, and a 

 point a few miles above Hidalgo, embracing a distance of a hun- 

 dred miles by road or three hundred miles by river. We were 

 exactly two months on the southern border. Much valuable time 

 was lost in going up and down the river, in procuring means of 

 conveyance, and in acquainting ourselves with the country. The 

 annoyances also were not few. On some days the weather was so 

 intensely hot that birds were apt to spoil before we could prepare 

 them .... 



" The result of the trip was the securing of some five hun- 

 dred birds, three of which are new to our fauna and one new to 

 science ; about a thousand eggs, many of which are new or rare ; 

 a few mammals, nearly all of which proved interesting ; a number 

 of alcoholic preparations of birds, mammals, and reptiles ; and 

 quite a collection of insects, principally Lepidoptera." 



His report on this expedition forms a paper of 66 pages and is 

 entitled, ' Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande of 

 Texas, from observations made during the season of 1877 .... 

 Edited, with Annotations, by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A.' It was 

 published in February, 1878, in Volume IV, of the ' Bulletin ' of 

 the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Ter- 

 ritories (Hayden). It consists of an annotated list of 150 species, 

 in some instances the annotations amounting to very full biogra- 

 phies of a number of species previousl)' little kno\vn. The new 

 species referred to is the Parula nigrilora ; and the species added 

 to the United States fauna are: (i) Myiarchtcs crinitus erythro- 

 renus, now known as Mylarchus mexkanus (Kaup), previously 

 taken, however, but not then recorded, by Dr. J. C. Merrill; (2) 

 Ghiucidiiim ferrugineum, now known as Glaiuidiuvi phalcenoides; 

 and (3) jEchmoptila (Coues, n. g.) albifro7is^ now Leptotila albi- 

 frons, first recorded by Coues in July, 1877, o" ^-^^ basis of a 

 specimen taken by Mr. Sennett at Hidalgo, in May, 1877. Sev- 

 eral other species of Mr. Sennett's list had been made known as 

 birds of the United States only the previous year through Dr. 

 T. C. MerrilTs work at Brownsville. 



