44 Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Birds of Southern Texas. 
Grande during the winter. I had the skin of a male bird sent 
to me that had been shot at Fort Stockton. 
Mergus americanus, Cassin. American Goosander. 
Found occasionally during the winter. The collection I have 
mentioned from Fort Stockton included a male and two females 
of this species. 
Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus). Hooded Merganser. 
Found on the Leona, Medina, and Nueces Rivers, and pro¬ 
bably on most of the larger streams also, but nowhere common. 
Chroicocephalus atricilla (Linnaeus). Laughing Gull. 
Abundant on the sea-coast during the summer. I saw great 
numbers off Bagdad from June to August; and when at Gal¬ 
veston in June 1864 I found them breeding there abundantly, 
making a very slight nest of straws and drift-stuff, in which 
they lay four eggs. The nest is generally placed on the ground 
or on a tussock of grass. 
Sterna aranea, Wilson. Gull-billed Tern. 
Not uncommon near Matamoras in July and August. On 
June 2, 1864, I found it breeding on Galveston Island, the eggs 
being then incubated. The nest is generally merely a hole 
scratched in the sand, but in some instances an attempt had 
been made to form a bed of straws and drift-stuff. The eggs 
are generally three, but sometimes four in number. 
Sterna regia, Gambel. Royal Tern. 
Common at the Boca del Rio Grande during the summer. 
Sterna fuliginosa, Gmelin. Sooty Tern. 
I saw two at Galveston in June, but found no nest there. 
Sterna wilsoni, Bonaparte. Wilson's Tern. 
I procured one specimen at San Antonio in May 1864, and 
in June found numbers breeding in Galveston Bay, the eggs 
being either near hatching or else hatched-out. The nest is 
made in the high piles of drift-stuff; and the eggs, three or four 
in number, much resemble those of Sterna fluviatilis 3 as might 
be expected. 
Sterna frenata, Gambel. American Lesser Tern. 
Common on the coast during the summer. I often saw them 
