A Catalogue of Birds obtained in Navarro County, Texas. 221 



either singly or in very small parties, but in fall they collect 

 together in large bands before and during migration. During the 

 last week of September such a flock, computed to consist of at 

 least a thousand individuals, arrived at the farm ; they came from 

 a north-easterly direction in a long straggling body, and settled 

 in the corn field, and were so tired that they would hardly flutter 

 away to the nearest unoccupied stalk upon being approached. 

 This happened late in the evening and by sunrise next morning 

 all had disappeared. It is rare to see any after the first week of 

 October. Occasionally they may be observed hawking for insects 

 in company with swallows, and even attempting to pick them 

 from the surface of a prairie tank like those birds, beside whom 

 however their movements were very awkward, for while the 

 swallow would gracefully capture the insect and scarce leave a 

 ripple behind it, the bee martin more frequently made a con- 

 siderable splash. 



Myiarchus crinitus (Linn.) Great-crested Flycatcher.— An 

 abundant summer visitor, arriving early in May, and frequenting 

 the open woods and creeks. The nests are placed in old borings 

 of woodpeckers, and are formed of a variety of substances, such as 

 wool, cotton, hair, grass, and feathers piled up to the depth of 

 several inches on the bottom of the hole, and the cast skin of a 

 snake is always found interlaced with the other materials ; five 

 seems to be the usual complement of eggs, but occasionally six are 

 deposited, and two broods are produced, the young of the first 

 leaving the nest before the end of June. They feed the nestlings 

 entirely upon insects, chiefly small grasshoppers, bees, and beetles, 

 but seeds and berries appear to form the main part of their food 

 during the fall. They are at all seasons unsociable, evincing a de- 

 cided distaste for the proximity of other birds, whether of their 

 own species or not. They do not remain here after the middle of 

 September. 



Sayornis fuscus (Gmel.) Pewee. — Though for the most part 

 merely a migrant through our district, a few pass the winter in 

 sheltered localities, such as the thinly- wooded lands along the out- 

 skirts of the river bottom, and the edges of glades and clearances 

 in the timber, but they all pass north before the end of March, 

 during which month they are very plentiful everywhere. They 

 begin to appear again about the middle of August, and from that 



