HARRIS' SPARROW. 



Zonotrichia querula Gambel. 

 Plate XXIV. Fig. 2. 



"HILE residing in the post-oak woods near the West Yegua creek in Lee Co., 

 Texas, I had an excellent opportunity of observing the resident and winter 

 birds of that region. Every day eai'ly in the moming I rambled about in the bottom 

 woods, which were bounded by cotton and corn-fields. A dense border of tangled thickets 

 and trees overgrown with mustang grape-vines, Virginia creeper, smilax, and trumpet- 

 vine surrounded these woodlands. Pin-oaks, elms, pecan, mulberry and hackberry trees, 

 sycamores and hickories were the prevailing species of trees, while the underwood 

 consisted of Mexican mulberry, yupon bushes and white-thorns. During fall, winter, 

 and spring this locality swarmed with birds of many species, but the different Sparrows 

 and the Wood Warblers were most numerous and interesting. In no other place did I 

 ever find so many winter birds as here. It is a well-known fact that in certain localities 

 the w^oods and the undergrowth swarms with birds, while in other places, evidently 

 equally suitable, none or very few are found. 



In fall the birds usually arrive just before a cold rainy storm or contemporaneously 

 with it. These cold snaps, which are known everyw^here in Texas as the "northers," 

 begin late in October and last till March or early April. The duration of such a cold 

 blast is usually three days, but it often lasts six and even nine days. After such a 

 norther has ceased, the weather is clear and spring-like again, the air salubrious and 

 invigorating. While walking through the border of the w^oods on Nov. 14, 1881, when 

 we had experienced a very w^et and cold "norther," I noticed among the raesquit bushes 

 and prickly pear thickets a number of strange birds which I had never seen alive before. 

 Still more numerous they were in the bushy border near a corn-field, and in the 

 dense interior of the woods. I recognized these birds at once as Harris' Sparrows. 

 During the whole winter, until late in March, I had an excellent opportunity of 

 observing them. Thousands of Juncos, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, 

 Towhees and Field Sparrows were generally in their company. In the dense, partially 

 evergreen thickets, and in the equally dense undergrowth of the bottom woods all these 

 birds were excellently protected firom cold weather, and from the many birds of prey 

 that w^ere to be found in open places and in the extensive fields. Great swarms of 

 Passenger Pigeons, w^hich found an abundant supply of food in the post-oak woods, 

 made the dense bottom woods their resting place during the night. Here also the 

 majority of winter birds were found, and I could scarcely imagine a better field for my 

 observations than among these thickets. The Hermit Thrush was hunting among the 

 dry old leaves for insects. Thrashers and Chats hopped shyly through the tangled masses 

 of creepers. The restless, noisy, and inquisitive Bewick's .and Carolina Wrens were creep- 

 ing adroitly through brush heaps and formidable prickly pear thickets. Flickers were 

 seen on all sides, hammering with all their power into the over abundant ants' nests. 



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