Vol. XVIII 

 190 



Allen, Iti Memoriam : George B. Senucfl. \ C 



In the spring of the following year Mr. Sennett made a second 

 trip to practically the same region, covering the months of March, 

 April and May, 1878, although only about two months were spent 

 in actual field work in Texas. He had as his assistant on this 

 expedition Mr. J. H. Sanford of Grant County, Mmnesota. The 

 ornithological results of this trip were published in November, 

 1879, ^^^ Volume V of the same journal (pp. 371-440), forming a 

 paper of 70 pages, entitled ' Further Notes on the Ornithology of 

 the Lower Rio Grande of Texas, from observations made during 

 the Spring of 1878,' edited and technically annotated by JJr. 

 Coues. This list includes 168 species, adding 43 to his first list, 

 and making a total of 193 species for the two expeditions, the 

 result of about four months work in the field. About the same 

 number of birds and eggs were obtained as on the first trip, with, 

 in addition, a similar miscellaneous collection of mammals, rep- 

 tiles, fishes and insects. The following five species of birds were 

 added to the United States fauna, namely, (i) Orfiithion imberbe, 

 (2) Pitangiis dcibianus, (3) Crotophaga siihirostn's, (4) Buteo 

 alhicaudatiis (now Buteo albicaiidatus se/iiiefti), and (5) Scops asio 

 -enano (now Afcgascops asio trichops is) . While edited, as was the 

 former paper, by Dr. Coues, Mr. Sennett himself furnished most 

 of the technical notes, Dr. Coues supplying only those relating to 

 questions or nomenclature and synonymy. That he already had 

 an excellent grasp of the technicalities and generalities of the 

 subject is evident from his treatment of such species as Lopho- 

 phaties airicristati/s, Anriparus flxiviceps, Spermophila jnoreleti, and 

 especially of Myiarchus crinitus erythroce?-ais, Crotophaga sti/cir- 

 vstris, and Meleagris gallopavo. Under the latter, in discussing 

 the Rio Grande form of the Wild Turkey, he suggests that " a var. 

 intertnedia " may have to be recognized, and in other cases fore- 

 shadowed, as under Spertnophila moreleti, changes in nomenclature 

 and the status of forms that have since been established. 



Mr. Sennetfs first paper on the birds of the Lower Rio Grande 

 region showed him to be a field observer of unusual intelligence, 

 and fully alert to every point of interest that came within his 

 range of observation ; while in the second paper he gave evidence 

 of the expertness in discrimination and soundness of judgment 

 so manifest in his later technical papers. 



