1*22 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



the nest, as it was more under 

 than above the ground. It was 

 found accidentally whilst gather- 

 ing agarita berries by two of our 

 companions. The small, white and 

 black marked egg^ were perfectly 

 round in shape, and the nest was 

 surrounded by numbers of the 

 small prairie snail houses and 

 fragments of flint rocks and a 

 small blackberry bush. On another 

 occasion, during hunting trips 

 in hilly regions around San An- 



houses seen scattered all over the 

 prairie, especially in hilly and 

 brushy regions around San An- 

 tonio, are a favorite bait for 

 anglers, especialy to catch perch 

 with, and it is a fascinating sight 

 during some sultry and rain- 

 threatening day, to witness hun- 

 dreds of such snails, several feet 

 above ground on the bushes, or 

 small trees, and I recollect having 

 seen, years ago, in a pasture dur- 

 ing threatened rainy weather, at 



A Rare Prairie Sparrow Nest With Round, Spotted Eggs, in the Ground 



tonio, such nests with the round 

 eggs were occasionally encounter- 

 ed inside some thick brush and 

 with preference in the small 

 leafed acacia brush bearing golden 

 yellow and red globular blossoms, 

 but its host, some small sparrow 

 species, prefers "to build its nest 

 on the ground and is generally 

 found accidentally, when one 

 passes close by, and its host sud- 

 denly flies away. 



The mollusks of our common, 

 but interesting small prairie snail 



the Olmos settlement, such im- 

 mense numbers of such snails, 

 covering the mesquite brush in 

 such numbers that nearly the 

 whole brush was one mass of 

 snow-white -snails, some of them 

 climbing as high as five feet in 

 the branches. 



Since writing the not6s anent 

 some birds, on the plan of the Ger- 

 man cuckoo, laying one egg more 

 in the nest of some other breeding 

 bird, and citing an instance of a 

 beautiful prairie sparrow nest con- 



