BELL’S VIREO. 309 
eggs, but, on account of the cold, wet weather, or for some other cause, the bird had 
not laid, and I had to content myself with the nest.” 
Mr. Goss found the birds very common near the south line of Kansas, especially 
in south-eastern Comanche County. They arrive there the last of April and leave in 
September. In the south-eastern part of Texas I have never observed this species. 
* 
NAMES: BLack-caPPED VIREO. 
“SCIENTIFIC NAMES: VIREO ATRICAPILLUS Woopuouss (1852). 
DESCRIPTION: “Adult male: Top and sides of head, deep black, the lores and orbital ring pure white, 
lower parts, pure white, the sides and flanks olive-greenish, tinged with yellow; upper parts, olive- 
green, the wings and tail black, with pale olive-yellow edgings. Adult female: Similar to male, but 
black of head usually duller, more slate-colored. 
“Length, 4.40 to 4.75 inches; wing, 2.15 to 2.30; tail, 1.80 to 2.00 inches.’’ (Ridgway.) 
: BELL’S VIREO. 
Vireo bellii AUDUBON. 
N TEXAS I had the opportunity, not only of becoming acquainted with many species 
of birds, never seen before in their haunts, but on my daily rambles in all directions 
I also came in contact with many disagreeable, annoying, and even dangerous animals. 
Sitting down on the ground or on an old log with the view of making close observa- 
tions, one is at once troubled and bitten by ants and mosquitoes. In April fleas are 
exceedingly annoying, and wood-ticks are especially fond of penetrating through one’s 
very clothes, boring themselves into the skin, to be removed only with difficulty. Red- 
bugs (or “jiggers’’), too small to be seen, work themselves also through the clothes and 
into the skin, ‘making one almost wild with intense itching.” Partial relief may be 
obtained by the application of strong salt water or ammonia before going to bed, and 
before going out into the shrubbery in the morning, by rubbing the skin with a good 
quantity of kerosene. The removal of the loose bark of a tree brings to light numbers 
of scorpions', and under stones and rotten wood every space seems to be filled with 
centipedes?. On the edge of woods and on prairies we notice many small, round cavities 
in the hard dark soil. From these holes glare eagerly the fiery green eyes of the taran- 
tula?, Woe to him who has the misfortune of being bitten by one of them. Harmless, 
though feared by many, are the horned toads or ‘“‘horned frogs’’*, and. grass-green 
lizards®, which run with wonderful velocity up and down the tree trunks and along the 
fences. Another very swift lizard®, striped with yellowish on the back, lives on fences 
and among stones.—It is necessary to be carefully on the guard against the many 
snakes, although only few of them are poisonous. In the rural parts they often glide 
at night through open windows into the houses and make themselves quite at home 
1 Buthus carolinensis, 2 Scolopendra castaneiceps. % Mygale Hentzii. 4 Phrynosoma cornutum, 5% Anolis princi- 
palis. 6 Ameiva sex-lineata. 
