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



Sirepsilas interpres (No. 196^ Ibis, 1864, p. 148). As 

 every record of rare visitors is interesting, I may here men- 

 tion that an adult male and female, in breeding-plumage, of this 

 species were shot on Fort Manoel Island in the third week of 

 May, and later in the same month three others were exhibited 

 for sale in the market. 



Pelecanus onocrotahs ? ( No. 239, Ibis, 1864, p. 154). I 

 have again to note the occurrence of a species of Pelican on 

 our shores. On the 10th of June, one was seen at the 

 Marsa, where the excavations for the extension of the Great 

 Harbour are going on . It settled on the mud close to one of 

 the steam-engines for pumping out water in the north-west 

 basin. A man went for a gun ; but when he came back the 

 bird had flown. 



Malta, June 26, 1865. 



■^^* Mr. Wright having been so obliging as to transmit to us 

 the specimens both of Chatusia leucura and Charadrius longipes, 

 described in the foregoing paper, we take this opportunity of giving 

 an illustration of the former, a species which, we believe, has 

 only been figured in the rare French work above mentioned. — Ed. 



XXXVII. — Notes on the Birds of Southern Texas. 



By H. E. Dresser. 



[Continued from page 330.] 



Geococcyx californianus (Lesson). Paisauo. 



Abundant throughout the whole mezquite region, and more 



particularly so near the Rio Grande. I found eggs of this bird 



p. 53) ; but that bird should have only the base of the under mandible 

 orange and the feet ash-colour, whereas the specimens we have seen of 

 the smaller race of ^. hiaticula have always the base of the upper man- 

 dible orange also, and the feet yellow. Notwithstanding these discrepan- 

 cies and a few others, we are almost inclined to think this was the bird M. 

 Menetries had before him when describing his Charadrius intermedius, 

 which he found to be not rare on the river Lenkoranka, near the Caspian. 

 In the last line of his description, where he says, " il a du reste la taille 

 beaucoup plus svelte que le C. minor," there is a manifest misprint, C. 

 hiaticula being doubtless the bird intended to be referred to. We are in- 

 debted to Mr. Gurney for a specimen of a Ringed Plover from Natal, 

 which seems to agi-ee in every essential respect with those of the small race 

 killed at Brighton, or rather Shoreham. — Ed.] 



