May, 1910 MISCELLANEOUS BIRD NOTES FROM THE LOWEK RIO GRANDE 101 disturbed, on account of considerable flights taken at short intervals. Tho often found feeding upon the ground, they are much less terrestrial in habit than the Cardinal. Mesquite beans form a favored food during a portion of the year. A bird with a beak resembling Pyrrhuloxia, tho copied on a miniature scale, is the Morelett Seedeater (Sporophila morelelli). I have had much pleasure and some disappointment in the study of this species, for at present it does not seem to be as generally distributed in the Valley, as in former years. I found .no individuals until the early days of springmabout March 26, when a few arrived. Their distri- bution here is sporadic and I discovered several locations which they resorted to generally, while the intervening sections were entirely avoided. In the spots they favor a small bush grows which produces a small round fruit with a seed in the center that bears considerable resemblance to flax. This seed the Seedeater is ex- tremely fond of, and in a dozen or more stc?machs examined hardly anything else was found. The Seedeater as a rule, keeps in small flocks up to the nesting seas,on, which is indefinite, and must cover at least three months. I have not succeeded in finding a single specimen of the male bird with any considerable quantity of black in the plumage, within the State, tho a number of the males secured, were sexually fully developed. Sporophila deserves systematic study for, as Dr. C. W. Rich- mond states, in a letter recently received,-- "they (Texas and Tamaulipas ex- amples) are now supposed to represent a form different from those (?S ?. morelelli) . of Central America and southern Mexico, in not having the black back and black pectoral collar; but exist in a plumage not to be distinguisht from the immature plumage of the southern form." The finches are so extensively represented here, that it will not be practical to dwell upon additional species; but better' to pass to a brief review of the warblers that occur almost entirely as migrants. Several species, however, do breed, and of these we choose to speak of the Sennett Warbler ( Compsolhlypis piliayuminigrilora) which appears early in March, when its cheery song helps to add to the already considerable volume of vernal music. Even with the assistance of the oft repeated notes as a clue, the Sennett Warbler is difficult to discover, for like nearly all of the family it is very active, keeping to the highest parts of trees, and playing a hide and seek game among the hanging moss (l?amalina) that drapes most of the arbor- escent growth. Therefore, it usually involves tiring use of one's neck muscles to locate any. Directly after appearing here, they commence building the nest which is tucked within the strands of moss. At as early a date as March 15 I have ob- served them at the work. The completion of the nest is coincident with a decline in the song which soon after practically ceases, making the apprehension of the bird's presence more difficult than ever. Some of the warbler tribe winter with us, as the Audubon Warbler (Zlendroz'ca auduboni), Myrtle Warbler (2>. coronala), and Nashville Warbler, and probably the Black and White (;Viniolilla varia), which abounds in the earliest days in March. The two first named species winter by thousands, the mesquite at that time always swarming with them; while the Nashville Warbler, in somewhat limited numbers, resorts to the scraggy undergrowth composed of Ebony and Acacia. April is the month here, for warbler variety. May, however, furnisht several interesting records this year such as Bay-breasted Warbler (]9endrot'ca caslanea), a species that seems to have been overlookt by previous observers in the Valley. It appeared on 'May 7 in company with the Blackburnian (D.blackburnice), Magnolia, Wilson( Wilsonia pusilia), and Canadian (W. canade?zsz's) Warblers. The BlackburnJan Warbler first arrived on May 4, seemingly a very late date in view of the fact that its ap- pearance has been noted in the Great Lakes region, at an earlier date (May 2).
