218 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
Spanish stock which has nearly run out has gone to horns, in southern Texas. 
A ground squirrel was seen on our way north, and in one place a red coyote ran 
across the road ahead of us turning to look back over his shoulder. 
On the way north, among the choice southern birds seen were Black- 
crested Titmice, the exquisitely tinted pink and gray Pyrrhuloxia, a pair of 
tiny Verdins about one of their big globular nests, Red-eyed Cowbirds sitting 
on the roadside fences, a White-tailed Kite on a bush in a salt flat, and a small 
flock of the Black-bellied Tree Ducks standing high on their long legs on small 
tufts in a pond surrounded by pink w r ater lilies ; while on a cool looking pond 
over whose shimmering w r ater dragon flies were wavering, the diminutive 
bluish gray Mexican Grebe, found only between southern Texas and Panama 
was seen swimming about, appropriately enough, among blue and white water 
lilies. 
A number of nests were found in passing. On May 4, eggs were seen in 
a White-winged Dove’s nest, and young in a Jackdaw’s nest; on May 5 a 
Sennett Oriole’s nest with four eggs was found in a yucca, a remarkable basket 
shaped nest hung by a handle from the bayonets of the yucca. The same day 
a Mockingbird’s nest with four eggs was found in a blooming cactus, a Cara- 
cara’s nest was discovered in the top of a small round oak with fuzzy-headecl 
nestlings, and in a liuisache a family of half grown Cardinals were being fed; 
and on May 6, a Desert Sparrow’s nest was found in a low bush with large 
feathered young. 
While the bulk of migration had passed, on May 6, two Whooping Cranes 
were seen going through their maneuvers in the sky ; on May 8 a Wilson 
Phalarope, a beauty in full breeding plumage, was watched swimming about 
on a flood water pond ; on May 9, a flock of two or three hundred Dickcissels 
was seen on the fences ; on May 10 a large flock of Mourning Doves were passed 
on a fence ; a Black Tern was seen over a lake, and several species of Sand- 
pipers on a narrow strip of pond ; besides a few other northerners seen on 
different days, among them a few Ducks, Thrushes, and AVarblers, notably 
the Black-throated Green, the Blackburnian, and Redstart on May 11, at 
Petranilla Creek. 
The prairie flowers as we went north also underwent a remarkable change. 
Although we made the whole trip of about three hundred and sixty miles 
from Corpus Christi to Brownsville and return in seventeen days, not only had 
the great waves of migration passed north but in places the prairie carpet 
had changed completely during the interval. An entire set of social plants 
had gone out of bloom and been replaced by others. In one section we were 
nearly a day with a newly laid carpet of yellow tar weed that gave a softly 
tinted picture, the yellow green floor having a wall of dull green mesquite 
and a roof of soft blue sky. Between Petranilla Creek and Corpus Christi 
where, on April 24, the ground had been pink with evening primroses, on 
May 11 it was covered with white mint as far as the eye could see in all 
directions. The change was so complete that it was positively startling. 
But one gets to expect big things of the prairie — waves of flowers, passing 
throngs of birds, overhead the starry host of heaven, and round about the 
encompassing clouds. One moonlight night we camped among liuisache trees 
and slept on a bed of daisies, and after the moon set the sky grew fuller and 
fuller of stars till one could but marvel at their myriad host. Silent night ! 
What infinite peace Nature offers her children ! On one of our days when there 
