314 Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Birds of Southern Texas. 



I went twice to the Boca Grande (now the town of Cortinas, 

 but then a few miserable huts^ dignified by the name of Bagdad)^ 

 and shot a few birds there, getting, however, nothing of any note. 

 Laughing Gulls, Pelicans, Terns, and Skimmers were common ; 

 but of the Waders I did not notice many. I was told of a large 

 saltwater lagoon to the southward of Bagdad, where lots of birds 

 bred, and among them, according to the statements of the 

 Mexicans, the following : — Grus americanus, Recwvirostra ame- 

 ricana, Himantopus nigricollis, and Hijdrochelidon plumbea. I 

 was, however, unable to spare the time to visit it ; nor indeed 

 would it have been of much use, as the egg-season was far past. 

 I was told by the Mexicans that some Hawks had been seen at 

 the Boca del Bio Grande; but, for myself, I never noticed a 

 Hawk of any description, excepting, as I have said, Craxirex 

 unicindus. 



Before starting for San Antonio, I packed up the skins I had 

 prepared (more than fifty in number), a few insects, and some 

 skins of mammals, and left them ; but on my return, in 1864, I 

 found all lost or destroyed, except about half a dozen birds, 

 which, howevei', had the legs and bills destroyed by ants. 



Early in September I started, with one companion, from 

 Brownsville to San Antonio, calling at San Patricio and Victoria. 

 We camped out the whole way, trusting chiefly to my gun for 

 subsistence ; and I am glad to say that the supply was seldom 

 less than the demand. The country we passed through, the 

 first two days of our journey, was covered with chaparral, 

 excepting here and there, where small prairies intervened ; and 

 we found pretty fair grazing for our horses. I found lots of 

 Bush-rabbits, Hares, White-winged and Carolina-Doves [Melo- 

 pelia leucoptera and Zenaidura carolinensis), a few Curlews {Nu~ 

 menius longirostris) , and Bartram's Sandpiper or Field-Plover 

 [Actiturus hartramius) ; so we did not starve. 



We were two days passing through the sand-plains, a most 

 miserable region, inhabited by nothing but Hares, Curlews, and 

 Antelopes, and not a tree or bush to give shelter from the 

 scorching sun. Arrived on the other side, we took it coolly, to 

 allow our horses to regain their strength (as the sand was up to 

 the hubs the whole way) ; and I spent the whole time hunting. 



