North American Fauna (67)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ...the dense thickets where they have passed the day and sit in dusty trails and other open places. On Maria Madre they were among the commonest birds frequenting old log roads through the forest and shady canyon bottoms until late in the morning and coming out again at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Of late years these places have been so completely given over to solitude that when a human being chances to stray into them he is looked upon with little fear. The wood folk seem to con sider him harmless and only a strange creature of their own kind. Parauques were among the most confiding birds found in these quiet retreats and permitted a close approach before taking wing and moving away. In the early dusk they were frequently seen hawking for insects among the low trees Several came about camp at the north end of Maria Madre just after sunset, and flew very swiftly back and forth with the same erratic course and vigorous wing strokes that are so characteristic of the night-hawk. In fact, I mistook one of these birds for a night hawk until it was secured. Their notes remind one slightly of the whip-poor-will's, but are not so loud and far-reaching. The regular call is made up of two and sometimes three syllables, besides which they have various little clucking and purring notes. Curiously enough the parauques of the Tres Marias bear a much greater resemblance, in size and color, to A7, albicollis merrilli of the Rio Grande Valley than to the ordinary birds of the adjacent mainland. Chordeiles acutipeimis texensis (Lawr.) Texas Nighthawk. A single specimen was taken May 5 on Maria Madre, and several others were seen during the first half of the month, after which time they disappeared. These birds were probably stray migrants, for there was...