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



Ceryle AMERICANA (Gmelin). Texas Kingfisher, 

 I noticed a couple of these birds at Matamoras in August, 

 and found them common on the Nueces and Leona Rivers^ at 

 which latter places they breed. In December I noticed several 

 near Eagle Pass. It is, however, by no means so common a 

 bird as the preceding. 



MiLVULUS FORFiCATUS (Gmelin). Scissor-tail. 



I found this beautiful and graceful bird very abundant at 

 Matamoras and in Western Texas (where it is known by the 

 name of "Texan Bird of Paradise"), as far east as the Rio 

 Guadaloupe. It arrives in the neighbourhood of San Antonio 

 late in March, and remains until the middle or latter end of 

 October. It breeds abundantly near San Antonio, building its 

 nest in a mezquite or wesatche tree, and laying from three to 

 four eggs, which are pure white, blotched with large spots of a 

 dark red colour. 



These birds are of a quarrelsome and fearless disposition, 

 rarely brooking intruders near their home : during the breeding- 

 season I have often, when travelling, pulled up to admire four or 

 five of them fighting on the wing, and showing their long tails 

 and the rich scarlet colour under the wings to the fullest advan- 

 tage. To the eastward I saw none of these birds after passing 

 the Guadaloupe River, but was told that they have occasionally 

 been seen on Galveston Island. 



The difi"erence in the plumage of the sexes is very slight, the 

 female generally having the tail somewhat shorter, and the 

 scarlet under the wing rather paler, than the male. 



Male. Beak blackish-brown ; legs black j iris chestnut-brown. 



Tyrannus carolinensis, Baird. King-bird. 



[Observed occasionally near San Antonio in the spring and 

 autumn. — A. L. H.] 



I myself never saw this bird at San Antonio, but in May and 

 June found it numerous near Gonzalez, Bastrop, Alleyton, and 

 Houston. Early in June I found several nests, containing eggs, 

 on Galveston Island, all however too near hatching to allow of 

 their being blown. 



? Tyrannus couchi, Baird. Couch's Flycatcher, 



I saved out of the wreck of my skins, collected at Matamoras, 



