34 Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Birds of Southern Texas. 
minded me of the European King-Plover (JE. hiaticula), running 
very swiftly, with the head drawn in close to the body. As the 
winter advanced they became more plentiful, but disappeared in 
the early spring, none showing themselves later than the com¬ 
mencement of April. They feed on cattle-ticks and beetles of 
all sorts; and seem to prefer the barren sand-plains to the 
grassy parts in the neighbourhood of water. 
Beak black ; legs greenish-grey ; iris black. 
zEgtalites wilsonius (Ord). Wilson’s Plover. 
Common about the coast, so far as my own experience goes, 
during the summer season. On Galveston Island I noticed 
many during my stay there in May and June, and shot two or 
three, but could not succeed in finding any eggs. 
^Egialites semipalmatus, Bonaparte. Semipalmated Plover. 
Pretty common about the pond-holes near San Antonio in the 
autumn and spring, but I noticed none near Matamoras when 
there. 
Squatarola Helvetica (Linnseus). Grey Plover. 
On the 6th of September, 1863, at the salt-ponds in the sandy 
desert between the Sal Colorado and King’s Bancho, I shot one 
specimen (which was well marked with black), and killed another 
on Galveston Island on the 26th of May, 1864; but I skinned 
neither of them. 
H^ematopus palliatus, Temminck. American Oyster- 
catcher. 
When out boating in Galveston Bay in June I saw a couple 
of Oystercatchers, and pointed them out to the boatman, who 
called them “ Pillwillets,” but said that he knew the difference 
between them and the real Willet (Symphemia semipalmata). 
He also said that the Oystercatcher is not a common bird, but 
that one or two pair bred sometimes on the outer islands in 
West Bay. 
Strepsilas interpres (Linnseus), Turnstone. 
I found several birds of this species quite close to the town of 
Galveston on the 26th of May, 1864; and on the beach to the 
westward there was a good number of them. On my second 
