i 169 ] 



XXI.— A CATALOGUE OF BIRDS OBTAINED IN NAVARRO 

 COUNTY, TEXAS, by J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 



[Read, February 20th, 1882.] 



The species enumerated in tlie following catalogue were obtained 

 between the months of June, 1879, and November, 1880, inclu- 

 sive, in Navarro county, Texas, whose chief town, Corsicana, 

 which is situated about the centre of the county, stands in lat. 

 32° 5' N., long. 96° 30' W. The entire collection was, however, 

 made a few miles to the north of Corsicana, between the towns 

 of Rice and Chatfield, and the Trinity river, in a district which 

 consists about equally of woodland and prairie, the latter inter- 

 sected by numerous belts of timber, bordering the edges of creeks, 

 which, though dry during the greater portion of the year, form 

 considerable streams after heavy rains ; it is bounded on the north 

 and west by the open prairie, on the south and east by the dense 

 timber covering to a depth of several miles, the lowlands on each 

 side of the Trinity river and its feeder Chambers' Creek. With 

 the exception of artificial tanks upon the prairie, and a few small 

 overflow ponds in the river bottom, which connect with the 

 Trinity during the winter floods, there is nothing to attract 

 wading or swimming birds, nor do I know of any permanently 

 marshy place in the neighbourhood, and these facts account for 

 the short stay of most species belonging to either class, and for the 

 non-appearance of others known to be regular migrants or visitors 

 to the State. 



Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the catalogue is the 

 extraordinary mixture of eastern and western forms which occur 

 in this district. Mr. Ridgway, in writing to me from the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, says, with regard to an incomplete list for- 

 warded by me to him : — " Representatives of the two faunae occur 

 in nearly equal proportions, and form altogether a most remark- 

 able assemblage ;" and again, " This thorough blending of the two 

 faun^ is more complete than at any other locality of which I have 

 seen faunal lists." With regard to Sturnella, for instance, we 



SciEN. Proc. R.D.S., Vol. ni., Pt. v. Q 



