﻿Field and Forest 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO TEIE NATURAL SCIENCES, 



Vol. II.— FEBRUARY, 1877.— No. 8. 



Ornithological Notes from Texas. 



During a brief sojourn in the Brazos River Valley, Waller County, 

 Texas, in the interest of the U. S. Fish Commission, I succeeded 

 in making a few observations on the ornithology of that region. 

 My notes are to a great extent incomplete and fragmentary, as my time 

 was limited to a few days, while I was obliged to make ornithology a 

 secondary matter on account of other business. However, I hope they 

 may contain some facts of interest to the student of geographical dis- 

 tribution, if to no one else. Frequent delays on the railroad through 

 Kansas, Indian Territory and Northern Texas, gave me an oppor- 

 tunity of taking a few notes in that section, that will hardly come 

 amiss under the above head. 



My attention was particularity called to the great number of Archibu- 

 teo lagopus, on the praries of Indian Territory and Kansas; even where 

 not a shrub or tree was in sight, the telegraph poles along the M. K. and 

 T. Railroad, from which they may watch for their favorite Arvicolae, 

 and thus alleviate the necessity of too much exertion on the wing ; 

 this may be judging their capacity or inclination rather harshly, but 

 they seem disposed to take life pretty easy, and are satisfied with such 

 vulgar prey as would be spurned by their more vigorous and high- 

 toned relatives. They seem very reluctant to leave their perches even 

 on the approach of the train ; I often saw them merely fly to the 

 ground a few rods from the track, wait until the train had passed, and 

 immediately resume their former post. From fifteen to twenty could 

 be seen at a time ; and in the vicinity of streams many perch upon 



