ORNITHOLOGIST 



OOLOGIST. 



A Collecting Trip in Texas. 



HY G. B. BENNERS. 



Of all the states I have been in, — and they 

 have been quite a number— the state of Texas 

 seems to me to be the best field for a collector 

 of birds and their eggs. Its immense area and 

 extent give it almost every variety of (dimate. 

 In the north we find it temperate, with high 

 mountains and a good supply of woodland; in 

 the south and centre it is semi-tropical, arid and 

 barren ; and on its short line of Gulf coast, very 

 pleasant and fertile. 



In as many different kinds of climate and geo- 

 graphical changes we find birds peculiar to 

 each one. The north abounds in Bojitorrs- the 

 south in all species of quail and the like, while 

 the coast furnishes a rare hunting-ground for 

 all kinds of water birds. 



There are no strict laws to fine you for every 

 bird you shoot, nor inquisitive people to bother 

 you witli silly questions, and as for asking per- 

 mission to gun on a man's place, j"ou would not 

 have much trouble in that way, for to find that 

 man would probably necessitate a few day's 

 journej'. 



The best time to go is in the months of March, 

 April and May, which was the period of my 

 trip there in 1884. The heigiit of the collecting 

 season in Texas is the last week in April and 

 the first week in May. 



Tile best localities to visit are Comal County 

 in the North centre; tlie neighborhood of the 

 Rio Grande Elver in the south, and Nueces 

 County on the Gulf coast. Every species of 

 bird known in the state can be found in these 

 three places. 



Some people in the North have an idea that 

 the birds of Texas are so plentiful, and their 

 nests so accessible, tliat ver}' little labor is re- 

 quired to get a goodly number of them. Let 

 these same people, however, take a trip through 

 the places above mentioned, and they will find 



that they will have to work as hard, if not liard- 

 er, than they would on a like trip through our 

 Northern states. They will have to camp out 

 in an utter wilderness, full of wild animals, and 

 they stand a good chance of being bitten by 

 centipedes, tarantulas, rattlesnakes and other 

 "harmless" things. Hesides, the temp<'rature 

 in the south and centre of the state averages 

 110'^ in the shade. Pluck and strength, how- 

 ever will be sure to give good results. 



In tlie following paper I propose to give an 

 account of the si)ecies I obtained, as well as 

 those I saw. 



Mimns pdli/f/Inttits, Mockingbird. It seemed 

 as though every tree, every busli, and every 

 plant a foot high, contained a bird or a nest of 

 this species. From Arkansas to the Rio Grande 

 I found them in tlie greatest abundance, and 

 was often deceived by the power they possess 

 of imitating the notes of other birds. I have 

 heard them give to i)erfection the call of the 

 Cliaparral Cock, (Geococci/x ealiforniamis) and 

 I remember shooting a mockingbird in a dense 

 tliicket by mistake for a Scissor-tailed Flycatch- 

 er, (Ililvuhis furjicatus), as I could not see tlie 

 bird, and it gave the exact (7/h'7>-, rhiick\ of that 

 Flycatcher. 



1 found their nests in all positions; in live 

 oaks, ten or twelve feet from the ground; in a 

 chapari-al bush, at a lieight of five or six feet; 

 and in small shrubs only a few inches from the 

 grass. They were all built of the same mate- 

 rials — small sticks and roots, with a lining of 

 dried grass, and resembled that of the Brown 

 Thrasher, (Harpvrhi/nchus nifns). The eggs 

 differed very nmch in color, running from a 

 dark green ground, with large chestnut blotch- 

 es, to a very light green, covered with small 

 red specks. One set I found were light blue, 

 with only a few brown spots at the larger end. 



Galcoscoptcs carolinensis, Catbird. Strange as 

 it may seem to us of the North, with whom 

 this bird is so plentiful, I only saw one speci- 

 men west of the Mississippi river. That was 



Copyright, 1887, by F. H. Carpenter and F. B. Webster. 



