Api-il 1887.] 



AXD OOLOGI8T. 



;i 



of tlieir iK'Sts in the hanging Spanish iiio.«s. It 

 contained three eggs'. 



DandroRcn (.extica, .Summer Yellow Bird. A 

 specimen shot at Corpus Christi on May 1st. 



Dtnidrirxa coronata, Yellow-rump Warbler. 

 Shot at Corpus Christi on May 1st. 



Den<Jr(era peunsi/lraiuca, Chestnut-sided War- 

 bler. Found at Corpus Christi on May 1st. 

 AH of the above warblers were on their north- 

 ward migration, except the Blue \'ellow-back. 



Dcndrvxa dominica. Yellow-throated Warbler. 

 I saw several of these beautiful birds, and shot 

 one of them. They are said to breed in Comal 

 County, in the Spanish Moss, near the ground. 



D'' iidrmca rh rysopa ria , Go 1 de n-e heeked W a r b 1 e i' . 

 This beautiful species is one of the really rare 

 birds of the I'nited States, being apparently 

 contined to an area of about ten square miles 

 in Comal County. This region is very sterile 

 and l>arren, and the only trees are stunted Live 

 Oaks and Ked Cedars. During my visit I saw 

 only ten birds, and I frequently went in search 

 of them. They staj-ed at the tops of the trees 

 and appeared to be very shy. The first one I 

 saw I took for a Black-throated Green Warbler 

 (iJi')idra'ca cirens), to which it bears a close re- 

 semblance. I was too near the bird when I 

 fired, and the shot riddled it almost to pieces. 

 That was the onh' specimen I got that day, and 

 on bringing it home one of my companions pro- 

 nounced it to be the rare Golden-cheeked War- 

 bler, and abused me roundly for not taking 

 more care in securing it. The next day we 

 were out in full force in that neighborhood, 

 with eight guns; and again I was the luck}' 

 one, as I secured the only birds of this species 

 shot that day. I saw one of them in the top of 

 a Ked Cedar, about twenty feet up, which I was 

 about to fire at. when my guide advised me to 

 watch it first, as it would jirobably go to its 

 nest. This I did, and after about an hour's 

 chase, I saw it settle down on its nest. This 

 was on Ai*ril 17th. The nest was about ten 

 feet from the ground, in a lied Cedar. It was 

 about half way out on a branch, and was com- 

 posed of strips of the bark of the cedar tree, 

 lined with feathers and down. It was very 

 neatly and compactly built, and measured two 

 and a half inches in diameter on the outside, by 

 two inches in depth. The inside diameter was 

 one and a half inches. 



The bird flew ofl" the nest and stayed near bj'. 

 when I shot it, and it proved to be a female. 

 The eggs were four in number, of a whitish 

 ground color, thickly covered with faitjt red- 

 dish dots, heavier at the larger end. They 

 were fresh, and measured .G8x.52; .G7x.52; 



.G7x.50, and .OOx.52. The guide, by imitating 

 the call of the female, lured the male to us, and 

 we secured it. \Vlien we got home I found that 

 these were the only s|)efimens of this waiblcr 

 shot by any of the party that day. 



The next day, April 18th, another nest was 

 fuunil by <ine of my companions, in a like situ- 

 ation, which the guide inf<»rmed me was the 

 usual nesting place chosen by this species. 

 This nest also contained four eggs, similar in 

 general appearance to the set found on the pre- 

 ceding day. I shot the parents of this set, and 

 <ni our way home shot two others. 



On April 22nd I secured another set of eggs 

 and the parent birds. The nest was quite low 

 down, being only about five feet from the 

 ground, on a small cedar. It was the prettiest 

 one we found, being unusually deep. It con- 

 tained four eggs, heavily marked for this sjje- 

 cies. They measure .08 x ..">0 ; .08 x Jy2 ; .04 x 

 .50, and .68 x M. 



The above three nests were all that our party 

 found during our stay, but I shot four more 

 birds. 



SinruH iKMriu.s, Small-billed Water Thrusli. 

 On May 18th, at Padre Island, in the Culf of 

 Mexico, i saw one specimen of this species in a 

 small clump of bushes, which was the only 

 vegetation in sight. 



Siuruit motacilla. Large-billed Water Thrush. 

 On May 14th I saw a single bird of this species 

 at Corpus Christi. 



Vireo atrmtpiUun, Black-capped \'ireo. The 

 top of one of the highest of the Guadaloupe 

 Mountains, in central Texas, is where I first 

 saw this bird. We were riding over a sort of 

 natural bridge connecting two of the loftiest 

 peaks, and called the "Devil's Backbone." It 

 is one of the most sterile spots I ever saw. The 

 "Backbone" was nothing but stratum upon 

 stratum of rocks, and reminded one of a high 

 railroad bank. The valley on either side was 

 called "Purgator}'." The vegetation was very 

 scanty and c<msisted of clumps of thorn bushes 

 which clung to the steep sides of the moun- 

 tains. 



In such a place, and with the temperature at 

 120°, we never thought of looking for such a 

 thing as a bird, and were riding along listening 

 to the Texas yarns of our guide, when suddenly 

 we saw something moving in some bushes by 

 the road. Thinking it must be a strange bii'd 

 indeed that would be in motion at such a time 

 and place, we sprang to the ground and pro- 

 ceeded to hunt it up. Although the clump of 

 bushes could not have be<in more than t\\ent}' 

 feet square, nevertheless, we hunted and tranip- 



