A Catalogue, of Birds obtained in Navarro Oounty, Texas. ^17 



in September, they band together in small flocks of from ten to 

 thirty individuals, and rove about the country in search of food, 

 returning every evening to some prairie tank to drink and bathe. 

 Though accused of doing injury to the standing corn, I have 

 never found any remains in the stomachs of many specimens to 

 lead me to that conclusion, but, on the contrary, insects of many 

 kinds — beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, caterpillars, grubs, and the 

 larvse which so frequently prove injurious to the growing corn, 

 were by examination proved to be consumed in enormous 

 numbers. 



Var. ceneus, Ridg. Bronzed GracJde. — Upon the 9th No- 

 vember, 1880, six weeks after the ordinary date of the departure 

 of the species, I met with a flock of grackles, an adult male of 

 which having been obtained, proved to belong to this form. The 

 irides were of a markedly brighter yellow than those of our 

 common summer variety. 



CoRVUS FRUGivoRUS, Bartr. Common Grow. — This crow is a 

 constant resident in our district, frequenting in summer the dense 

 timber of the bottom lands, where it makes its nest among the 

 upper branches of lofty trees in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of water, but at other seasons resorting to the thinly-wooded 

 lands on the skirts of the prairie, whence they issue daily far 

 out upon the open country in search of food, returning each 

 evening to the same roosting place. At this time they are 

 more or less gregarious, flocks numbering as many as an 

 hundred individuals being by no means uncommon, but I am 

 inclined to think that the greater number, if not all, of these bodies 

 are of extraneous origin, since a sufficient number of small family 

 parties may always be met with in the same districts to account 

 for the native-bred population. That indeed we receive large 

 migratory bands of crows during the early part of the winter is 

 certain, since on the 26th November I witnessed the passage of 

 a flock consisting of quite a thousand examples ; they were flying 

 steadily in a south-westerly direction, at a great height, and since 

 the papers of the previous days had mentioned heavy snowstorms 

 in more northern states, it is probable that these birds had come 

 from the snowed-up regions. Crows frequently do much damage 

 to the corn crop, both when it is beginning to sprout, and also 



SciEN. Peoc» B«D.St, VoLi in., Pti v. T 



