TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS' IJSrD REMINISCENCES. 107 



the Paisanq hops or dances ga;gly 

 around the snake — the latter rat- 

 tling fiercely — the "chapdrral cock, 

 with open ' wings and erect tail, 

 at an opportune moment with 

 lightning rapidity spreads and flaps 

 its wings and strikes at the snake's 

 head until the powerful and sharp 

 pointed bill pierces the brain. It 

 then picks its eyes out and muti- 

 lates the body. 



Often unscrupulous hunters and 

 boys shoot this lizard and snake 

 bird merely for fun and afterward 

 the corpse is left on the prairie 



vales of \yestern Texas, especially 

 such abounding with plenty 'of 

 lizards; on open _prairie plains 

 as well, as' the brush jungles and 

 pastures; in forests and cultivated 

 fields — in all such places the chap- 

 arral cock seeks its insect food, 

 and it is an imposing sight 

 to observe this speedy bird attack 

 its prey or perhaps, with a lizard 

 in its beak, running along the road- 

 sides : or when, with tail and head 

 n a straight line it flies with th 

 iwiftness of an arrow over the 

 sairie plains. e 



Chaparral Cock Nest and Eggs in Brush Thicket 



to be devoured by buzzards or 

 coyotes. Of course in exceptional 

 and provoking circumstances neces- 

 sity may compel one to make use 

 of nearly any sort of foodstuffs 

 out of the ordinary, to sustain life, 

 but the chaparral cock is by no 

 means a game bird. 



Around the suburbs of San 

 Antonio, especially the hilly re- 

 gions, our "chaparral" is quite 

 conspicuous today yet — though 

 their number, compared to former 

 .years, has considerably diminished, 

 All over the hilly regions and 



Once, while returning from a 

 a few days outing at the romantic 

 Medina river, some 32 miles north- 

 west of San Antonio, ^n the 

 Bandera road, and at the hilly 

 regions of Helotes, we happened 

 to witnss an unusually interesting 

 scene. On one of the dark green 

 trees close to some agarita bushes, 

 a large snake was noticed about 

 six feet from the ground, inside its 

 thick branches, slowly creeping 

 from branch to branch, higher 

 up, towards a mocking bird's nest. 

 At the same time two mocking 



