78 THE CONDOR Vol. XX 



peared. All three of us had spent many a long hour endeavoring to locate a nest 

 of this species, which is not especially abundant here, and I was much gratified 

 in finding this, our first one. The call note of this bird is very similar to that of 

 the Sacramento Towhee, which it replaces in these altitudes. 



On June 23 I collected my first nest of the Wright Flycatcher (Empidonax 

 wrighti) with a set of four fresh eggs. I had located this nest previously on 

 June 19, when it held a single egg. It was twelve feet up in a small Jeffrey pine 

 (see fig. 9), against the trunk, and was made of grasses, grayish fibres and webs, 

 and lined with rootlets, grasses and feathers. The female parent was taken with 

 the set and is now number 19112 in the University of California Museum of Ver- 

 tebrate Zoology. 



On June 24 a nest of the American Water Ouzel was noted with three fresh 

 eggs, and a Pacific Nighthawk's with a set of two, slightly incubated. 



The day following, my last afield, I climbed to a nest of the Cassin Purple 

 Finch twentj^-five feet up in a lodgepole pine, but found it to hold but two fresh 

 eggs, although young of the year were now abundant. The day and trip fittingly 

 closed with the finding of five eggs in a dainty little nest of the Western Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglet, cleverly tucked away, almost out of sight, although but twelve 

 feet up in a lodgepole pine. 



San Francisco, December 2, 1917. 



THE SCARLET IBIS IN TEXAS* 



By R. A. SELL 

 WITH ONE PHOTO 



THE EXACT status of the Scarlet Ibis (Guara rubra) in the avifauna of the 

 Texas coast region has been a subject of speculation and good-natured con- 

 troversy for at least twenty years. Much of this discussion has been among 

 sportsmen, real estate agents, summer and winter resort boosters, and railway 

 agents. While no data should be considered that does not emanate from a relia- 

 ble source, it is about as easy to believe some noisy sportsman when he says that 

 he has seen a Scarlet Ibis, as it is to believe a quasi-ornithologist who asserts that 

 "the Scarlet Ibis is never to be seen on the Gulf Coast." Especially is this so 

 when the former presents a mounted specimen and gives a vivid description of 

 the circumstances under which he killed his bird. 



Positive evidence is based upon something tangible. This may be a guess, 



*The writing- of this article was stimulated by the comments of the Editor of Tlie 

 Auk (vol. xxxiv, pp. 360,373) in which he conjectured that the informal reference in a 

 preceding- CONDOR article (vol. xix, pp. 43-46) to an occurrence of the Scarlet Ibis in 

 Texas was made without the realization by either the author of that article or by the 

 editor of THE CONDOR that the species had not been previously authenticated as be- 

 longing to the avifauna of Texas. The Editor of The Auk was correct in his surmise, 

 and all his remarks were quite to the point. Never-the-less it is a satisfaction all around 

 now to be able to present the subject of the occurrence of the Scarlet Ibis in Texas in 

 rather full detail, thanks to the industry of Mr. Sell. We would suggest that the Auk 

 Editor might himself have been a bit more critical, in the case of the Colorado record of 

 the "Harpy Eagle"! — EDITORS, 



