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 68 Vol. XIX FROlI FIELD AND STUDY The Number of Species and Subspecies of Birds in Texas.--In view of recent com- parisons of the lists of birds known from the various states of the United States, a note concerning the number of species in Texas may be of interest. Texas is by considerable the largest state in the Union, and this great size together with its peculiarly interme- diate geographic position naturally lead us to expect a large and varie:d avilaunto Nor does this expectation fail, for the list of birds now known is decidedly larger than that of any other state, amounting to 605 species and subspecies. Of these, 310 are perma- nent residents, .that is, they occur during both summer and winter at some place within the boundaries of the state, though several of them do not, so far as known, breed with- in its boundaries. There are 78 summer residents, which are species found during the summer at some locality in the state, though not necessarily breeding, but which do not pass the winter here. Winter residents, including all those that occur at this season in only one locality, number 138; transients 42; casual visitors 23; and accidental visitors 14.--HARRY C. OBERHOLSE, Bureau o! Biological Survey, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1917. A New Record for California.n December 4, 1910, I secured a male specimen of the Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis savanna). The bird when shot was clinging to some dry grass stalks growing in a swampy meadow enclosed by dikes. This field, formerly open sal marsh, is near the north end of Woodley Island, Hum- boldt Bay, California. Mr. J. Grinnell examined this sparrow in 1911 or 1912, and again in the fall of this year, 1916, pronouncing it to be Passerculus s. savanna. Mr. Grinnell wrote to me that, as far as he was aware, the Savannah Sparrow constitutes a new subspecies for the state.--C. I. CLAY, Eureka, California, December 25, 1916. The Hooded Merganser in Stanislaus County, California.--Like many other spe- cies of wild fowl this interesting bird (Lophodytes cucullatus) is becoming scarcer on the Pacific Coast, and while still noted in some places it is seldom seen by most of us. In fact it is something.like thirty years since one has appeared within my horizon. Hence it was a matter of surprise and pleasure to note a female of this species at the Rancho Dos Rios, Stanislaus County, California, on October 26, 1916. There was but a single individual, feeding lear a small bunch of Coots in a slough of seepage water, something like a mile from the Tuolumne River.--JoSErH MAXLLXAD, San Francisco, Jan- uary 17, 1917. Fig. 25. A DA(mAI FOR LLUSTRATN( CALENDAR, A Diagram for Illustrating the Sea- sonal Shifting of the Bird Calendar.- Those who are concerned with teach- ing ornithology find frequent need for devices of one sort or another which will aid in conveying ideas. Diagrams on charts or lantern slides may often be used to advantage. The one here given is very likely to have been thought of by other teachers, and even published somewhere, though I do no recall having run across it myself. It is intended simply to show the com- position of the bird-life of a locality, at any one period of the year, by sea- sonal categories. There are four of these: Permanent Residents, Summer Visitants, Winter Visitants, and Tran- sients. The portion of the annual cy- cle in which each is present is shown; and it becomes possible to demon- strate the categories present in each one of the months. Thus, in January there are only the Permanent Residents plus the Winter Visitants; and in April all the categories are present.---J. GRINNELL. University of California, Berkeley, lPebruary 13, 1917.