206 Lacey, Birds of Kerrville, Texas. [^ 



45. Colinus virginianus texanus. Texas Bob-white.— Common 

 resident, getting scarcer for the last few years although comparatively few 

 get shot at any distance from the small towns. Armadillos and hogs 

 break up a good many nests. I have (on three occasions only) heard the 

 male bird (when nesting) give a curious little chirping crow on being 

 Hushed. After the breeding season is over the well-known call " Bob- 

 white " is not heard until the middle of the next April when they begin to 

 pair again; I have listened for the call for many years and never heard 

 it before April 16; the average date is about April 20. They usually try 

 to raise two broods here and I have found newly hatched young in October. 

 1 once saw a hen quail fighting a Road-runner and she finally succeeded in 

 driving it away from her baby brood. 



46. Callipepla squamata. Scaled Quail. — Have seen this bird 

 on the head of Johnson Fork of the Llano River in the northwest corner 

 of this county; it occasionally breeds there but is rare and the locality 

 is nearly at the southeastern limit of the range of the typical form of the 

 species. 



47. Cyrtonyx montezumae mearnsi. Mearns's Quail. — For- 

 merly fairly common in the western part of the county; have seen it at the 

 ranch, 7 miles southwest of Kerrville, and on one occasion at least it has 

 nested there. It is getting to be quite rare. 



48. Tympanuchus americanus. Prairie Chicken. — The oldest 

 inhabitant had never seen a Prairie Chicken in this county until late in 

 November, L885, when one or two were reported as having been seen west 

 of Kerrville. By the middle of December of that year they were very 

 common at the ranch and on the dry headers of the Guadaloupe and Llano 

 rivers, and were a welcome addition to the ranch fare from that time until 

 early in April, 1886. when they all left us and have not been seen here since. 

 It is too late now to determine the species and they may have been the 

 Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus paUidicinctus). 



49. Meleagris gallapavo intermedia. Rio Grande Turkey. — 

 Formerly very common, but get tin": rather scarce now that the shot gun 

 is becoming almost as common a piece of furniture as the rifle in the ranch- 

 man's house. These birds are as foolishly tame when about half grown as 

 they are wild and able to take care of themselves when fully mature: if 

 they were not shot at until fully grown and allowed to roost in peace at 

 night, there is no reason why we should not have them always with us. 

 Armadillos and skunks sometimes roll the eggs out of the nests, and they 

 have plenty of enemies besides the boy with the shotgun. The hen turkey 

 as a rule begins to lay in March and I have seen quite small young ones 

 early in April. If their first nest is broken up they will try again and I 

 have found a nest with seven fresh eggs in it as late as June 4. 



50. Zenaidura macroura carolinensis. Mourning Dove. — Very 

 common in summer, and some few remain all the winter. After a day or 

 two of really cold weather they get very weak and many of them die. 

 Thev come to the fodder stacks in hard weather with the snowbirds and 



