Brown’s Reconnoissance in Southwestern Texas. 39 
rock, bush or weed affords a hiding place. The male’s song, which I first 
heard on Feb. 25, is a pretty warble, not strongly accentuated, and quite 
unsparrowlike, — equalling neither in . sweetness nor in quality of music, 
the beautiful chant of P. cestivalis. Before becoming thoroughly familiar 
with it, I more than once attributed it to some unknown Warbler. The call- 
note is extremely fine and sharp, suggesting the eep of Ampelis cedrorum. 
54. Melospiza fasciata (Gmi) Scott. Song Sparrow. — Rare through- 
out my stay. Specimens are not typical of this form, but are not referable 
to any of the western varieties.* 
55. Melospiza lincolni (Audi) Bd. Lincoln’s Finch. — Arrived 
March 4 ; common thereafter. 
56. Fasserella iliaca (. Merrem ) Sw. Fox Sparrow. — Two or three 
individuals met with. This species was detected in the valley of the- 
Brazos by Mr. L. Kumlien,f but is not included in the papers of other 
Texas collectors. 
57. Pipilo maculatus megalonyx (Bd.) Cones. Spurred Towhee. 
— To this form I refer a large series of Pipilos, which is by far the most 
remarkable of the many curious series from this locality. The relation 
of some specimens to restricted maculatus and the variety arcticus is in- 
dicated in the extract from Mr. Ridgway’s letter, under M. fasciata. Other 
examples are links in the chain of evidence that is gradually accumulating 
against the specific distinctness of Pipilo erythrophthalmus. Indeed, I 
am not sure that they may not be considered as establishing the intergra- 
dation between that form and the maculatus group. The extreme ap- 
proach to the eastern bird is seen in a single specimen, in which the white 
spotting, partially concealed, appears upon the outer scapulars alone, and 
there only in very slight measure. 
58. Cardinalis virginianus (Brissi) Bp. Cardinal. — Abundant 
resident. In a series of fifty specimens, two or three are typical, the 
remainder exhibiting to a greater or less degree the characters of both 
virginianus as restricted and var. igneus. In one specimen the black band 
across the culmen is hardly perceptible, but in none does the red of the 
forehead reach completely to the bill. 
59. Calamospiza bicolor (Towns.) Bp. Lark Bunting. — One spec- 
imen, in a scattering grove of post oaks, March 24. 
* Mr. Ridgway acquiesces in the identification made of my inconstant examples of 
this species and Pipilo maculatus, in a letter from which I here make an extract : “The 
Pipilos appear to be neither true arcticus nor true megalonyx, and are almost as near 
(one of them at least) to maculatus of Mexico. They are, however, less like arcticus 
than either. ... You will notice that one of the specimens has a very considerable ad- 
mixture of grayish on the upper parts. Now, were this color more olivaceous, the 
specimen in question would be exactly like maculatus . The Song Sparrows are about 
equally like M. fasciata and M. fallax, but in colors appear to me to be nearer the 
former, as fallax has the markings less sharply contrasted. The specimens are, how- 
ever, more like fallax in the grayness of the plumage. Upon the whole, I would say 
that they are nearer fasciata than fallax .” 
f See Field and Forest, Feb. 1877, p. 131. 
