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 Sept., 1916 MEETING SPRING HALF WAY 189 was spent in trapping, skinning, and writing up notes among the bird colony of the oak mort. Its rarest member, Pyrocephalus, the exquisite little scarlet- breasted Flycatcher sang a rapturous flight song suggestive of that of the Cassin Sparrow. When in midair he would puff out the feathers of his breast till he might have been a full blown red rose, and then float down through the air to the flowery fields below. The Jackdaws, prominent members of the mort colony, amused us by their buffoonry, their attitudinizing, their crack- ling, brush-breaking noises and their falsetto squeals while their mates calmly gathered nesting material. Golden-fronted and Texas Woodpeckers called as they passed back and forth through the trees, the Golden-fronted with a loud penetrating rattle. Vireos hunted about, and passing Warblers, among them the Black and White Creeper, chipped in the tree tops. A belated Chestnut-sided was seen in another oak mort later in the day. A Mockingbird was building in an oak and we found a Lark Sparrow's nest sunk in the ground at the foot of a bush containing four eggs. On the live oaks were found clumps of a stout air plant related to the Spanish moss with beautiful purple fusehia~like flowers that proved to be a new species, and it was carefully photographed, as was also a solid acre of pink phlox, though, alas, we could not reproduce the colors! When we again took to the road and Barn Swallows with their dark backs and deep chestnut breasts circled around us, by contrast we realized anew how keen and bright were the tones of the prairie flowers. As we drove on a Caraeara with its proud, erect bearing, waited in a low tree ahead of us till we could distinguish its black crest, and as it flew off its white wing tips were conspicuous. A partly eaten snake and the Mexican emblem seemed well cor- related. Very few birds were seen along the road on these last days of April, and those mostly summer residents, a few Mourning Doves and Horned Larks, a flock of Cowbirds around a herd of cattle, and once a Nighthawk sitting with furled sails on a 'chip' on the prairie. Resident bird life centered in the motts, where Wood Pewees, Lark Sparrows, Quail, Clay-colored Sparrows, Blue Grosbeaks, Curve-billed Thrashers, and Mockingbirds were seen, a Mocker in one place feeding half grown young. Mockingbirds were so abund- ant that the old Texan remarked comprehensively, "Wherever you find a bush you'll find a Mocker, Without an accident, from Corpus here." The largest mott, which was seen on the twenty-ninth, offered such gen- erous shade that cattle had bared the ground under its oak roof. Jackdaws were making a great commotion here and Orioles and Black and White Creep- ers increased our wish that we might camp and investigate. A north wind gave us a beautiful sight, a flock of perhaps forty White Pelicans maneuvering in the sky, flying in a wedge or a straight line, for, as we were told, a north wind makes them fly north because it piles the water so high down the gulf that they cannot get their fish. The events of the hour were a number of large Hawks, the Harris, Sennett, and Swainson, some of them perching on telegraph poles, as if appreciating the rare possibility, beau- tiful, smooth sand dunes, and our old friends the mesquite and cactus, together with ponds enlivened by Redwings and waders, and encircled by brilliant yl- low Coreopsis rings. These yellow rings around pools were so numerous that they demonstrated the aquatic taste of the flowers. Sauz Ranch, the next spot on the map, proved not only a white man's ranch and stage station but a Mexican village of picturesque hackells made of branches and thatched with grass, inhabited by Mexicans who rode around