A Catalogue of Birds obtained in Navarro County, Texas. 193 



choosing each a special perch — always one of the uppermost 

 twigs — from which it commands an uninterrupted view of the 

 surface of the surrounding ground, and from whence they dart down 

 upon any insect whose movements may attract their keen eyes ; 

 they always carry their prey back to their perch before consuming 

 it, unless when not hungry at the time, when they impale it upon 

 some neighbouring thorn. The introduction of barbed wire for 

 fencing prairie farms suits them, as one may judge from the 

 number of insects often found impaled thereon. Grasshoppers 

 and beetles are their ordinary food, but that they occasionally 

 hunt and kill small or wounded birds, I have, on two occasions, 

 been an eye-witness, the first being a song sparrow, the second a 

 wounded mocking bird — both, when examined, had the back of 

 the skull crushed in. They sometimes take large insects on the 

 wing, returning, flycatcher-like, to the same perch, and I have even 

 seen them, while moving from one place to another, arrest their 

 course in order to pursue passing insects. They sit bolt upright 

 on their perch, looking like a small hawk, and, when disturbed 

 dart down to within a short distance of the ground, and flit along 

 with a low, wavy, and rapid flight, until almost immediately 

 beneath the selected twig, when they shoot suddenly upward and 

 alight at once. 



Vae. excubitoeides (Swains.) White-rumped Shrike. — Occa- 

 sionally in the fall I have obtained shrikes, which, from the con- 

 tinuance of the white patch on the tail, and the slightly greater 

 length of the tarsi, are probably referable to this form. They 

 differed, however, in none of their habits from their more nume- 

 rous brethren. 



Ampelis cedeorum (Vieil.) Cedar Bird— This beautiful bird 

 is an irregular winter visitant to the district. During the winter 

 of 1879-80 I did not observe a single specimen, but early in 

 December, 1880, they suddenly appeared in small flocks in all the 

 wooded lands and creeks, and from the time of their arrival until 

 my departure, towards the end of the month, scarcely a clump of 

 cedars which I passed in my rides wanted its flock ; and they 

 bore testimony to the correctness of their name by feeding exclu- 

 sively upon the berries of that tree. They are tame birds, only 

 rising when fired at, and, after circling about for a few seconds, 

 re-alighting on the same or a neighbouring tree. Their flight is 



