BULLETIN No. 1, VOL. IV. TABLE OF CONTENTS I.-Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande of Texas, from observations made during the season of 1877. By George B. Sennett. Edited, with an- notations, by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A. II.-Descriptions of Fishes from the Cretaceous and Ter- Pages. ART. III.-Descriptions of New Tineina from Texas, and others from more northern localities. By V. T. Chambers. 79-106 IV.-Tineina and their Food-Plants. By V. T. Chambers. 107-124 C. E. McChesney, M. D., Acting Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A. Annotated by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A. 201-218 IX.-Studies of the American Herodiones. Part I.-Synop- sis of the American Genera of Ardeida and Cico- niida; including Descriptions of Three New Genera, and a Monograph of the American Species of the Genus Ardea, Linn. By Robert Ridgway X.-Notice of the Butterflies collected by Dr. Edward Palmer in the Arid Regions of Southern Utah and ART. I.-NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THE LOWER RIO GRANDE OF TEXAS, FROM OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING THE SEASON OF 1877. Edited,* with annotations, by Dr. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. ERIE, PA., December 1, 1877. SIR: In transmitting these notes on the ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande, allow me to preface them with a few remarks. Last winter, having inclination and leisure to prosecute the study of birds in a more extended field than was open to me at home, I began to look about for a suitable locality. As is always the case when real desire for study arises, avenues of investigation opened in all directions; but the weight of influence drew me to the Rio Grande. Arranging with Mr. F. S. Webster, of Troy, N. Y., to go as my assistant, and securing a complete outfit, I set out for Texas on February 23d of the present year. My plan was to work down the lower coast of Texas, and arrive at Brownsville, as a base of future operations, before the breeding season had fairly commenced. On the evening of the 20th of March, after many vexatious delays, we arrived at Brownsville, our objective point. The country worked over lay between Point Isabel, on the coast, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, and a point a few miles above Hidalgo, embracing a distance of a hundred miles by road or three hundred miles by river. We were exactly two months on the southern border. Much valuable time was lost in going up and down the river, in procuring means of conveyance, and in acquainting ourselves with the country. The annoyances also were not a few. On some days the weather was so intensely hot that birds were apt to spoil before we could prepare them. While we were constantly on the alert for huge rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and centipedes, yet more troublesome enemies were with us continually in the shape of wood-ticks and red-bugs, to say nothing of *[The editor's notes are bracketed and followed by his initials. Having inspected most of the collection, which was courteously submitted to his examination by Mr. Sennett, he is responsible for the identifications of nearly all the species, as well as for his technical commentary.-E. C.] Bull. iv. No. 1-1 1 |