ieee LL ene e) IN Wels BT aN 7 
raised more young in 1931 and 1934 after our departure. Of his 
seventeen nests when I was present during the eight years, only five 
were successful and only thirteen young were fledged. 
Once again 4M’s lovely songs welcomed us home in September, 
1935. That December he disappeared, a victim at last of some enemy. 
In the early years he was an overbearing bird, dominating his 
neighbors, but later he became a peaceable citizen. He was the most 
zealous singer of any of the song sparrows; he started in late January 
or in February, according to the weather, and sang well into July, 
starting again the last of September and singing splendidly in pleasant 
days in October. 
4M was a remarkable bird, spirited, a distinguished singer, and 
notable also for his long life. 
: 5708 Kenwood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 
Notes on Birds Observed in Lower Texas 
June 7-17, 1937 
BY FRANK A. PITELKA 
The avifauna of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is un- 
usual in many respects. Whether to the ornithologist who would 
take to the field for the sheer joy of seeing birds that were to him 
but color plates before, or to the ecologist who would find absorption 
in the many and varied associations that fill the delta region of the 
Rio Grande with perplexing problems, or whether even to the collector 
who would be prone to pass all bounds in his eagerness to secure what 
little of the rare is left—to these and all other ornithologists the 
Valley presents a veritable paradise which is equalled or possibly 
surpassed by but a few regions of the United States. 
To account for the number of more than 350 species and sub- 
species recorded in southern Texas, one has but to visualize the geo- 
graphic position of this region. In the summer, a number of Mexican 
and Central American species such as the red-billed pigeon, groove- 
billed ani, and Sennett’s warbler, reach the northern limit of their 
breeding ranges in the delta of the Rio Grande. In addition to these, 
which are found within the United States only in southern Texas, 
there are numerous permanent residents belonging to the tropical 
class, such as the chachalaca, Merrill’s parauque, Couch’s kingbird, 
derby flycatcher, and green jay. Of the truly tropical vertebrate 
fauna present in lower Texas, the class Aves leads in number of 
species. During the migrating season, the routes of many species of 
the East, West, and Plains converge there, following naturally the con- 
tour of the continent.’ In winter there is overlapping of ranges in 
southern Texas between those species staying to the south through 
