A Catalogue of Birds obtained in Navarro County, Texas. 199 



ranks are continually flying a few feet forward over the heads of 

 those in front, they look more like a number of small mammals 

 than birds. I saw none after the middle of the month. All those 

 which I obtained were in the plumage originally separated by 

 Professor Baird as Plectrophanes melanomus. 



Rhynchophanes maccowni (Lawr.) McCown's Longspur. — 

 These birds are very common visitors to the prairie, arriving 

 about the beginning of November in large flocks, which for the 

 first three weeks of their sojourn consist entirely of females, but 

 upon the arrival of the males the diflferent flocks amalgamate, 

 forming, under favourable circumstances, bands of almost in- 

 credible number, so much so that the noise made by the wings of 

 the assembled multitude when rising and settling may be heard 

 at a great distance. The members of the flock keep very close 

 together in flight, sweeping along something in the manner of a 

 flock of plover, now showing all silvery white as the lower parts 

 alone are exposed to view, and anon darkening until they become 

 almost invisible against the surface of the prairie, as their backs 

 are turned to the spectator ; the tail, which is frequently ex- 

 panded when in flight, betrays the species at a glance, from the 

 large amount of white which stretches entirely across it. They 

 remain with us until the end of March, and during that month 

 are by far the most abundant small birds, frequenting the low- 

 lying, damp and flooded parts of the prairie, where they feed 

 chiefly upon the seeds of grasses and weeds, but also upon small 

 insects. They frequent the cultivated fields as well as the 

 prairie, and are often found in company with shore larks and 

 Lapland buntings. The total length 5 "50 inches, given in the 

 " History of North American Birds," page 523, is that of a very 

 small individual ; adult males are often more than an inch in 

 excess of that size. 



Passerculus sandwichensis alaudinus (Bonap.) Western 

 Savannah Sparrow. — A winter visitor in large numbers, 

 frequenting the open districts, and never found even in the 

 glades and cleared lands of the river bottom. They arrive with 

 us about the beginning of October, but are not common until 

 the end of the month. They frequent the cultivated lands, 

 especially preferring those on which a rank undergrowth of 

 coarse grass and weeds has been allowed to spring up, but are 



