Part 3

The Louisiana State University Museum of Zooelogy now has a series of 21 specimens of Columbigallina passerina collected in Louisiana since the publication of Oberholser's book, in which only a few records for C. p. passerina alone are cited. Examination of the new material reveals that eleven specimens are clearly referable to pallescens, providing, therefore, an addition to the avifauna of the state. As might be expected, pallescens prevails in the western part of the state, although, at least occasionally, it migrates farther east. The specimens identifiable as pallescens are as follows: 7 , 1 [Female], Cameron, April 3, 1938 (Lowery); December 15, 1940 (Wallace); November 1 and 20, 1941 (Burdick and Lowery); October 31, 1942 (Burdick and Tucker). Two females were taken at White Castle on January 18, 1938 (Hewes), and another was shot at Carville on January 15, 1941 (Lowery). No Louisiana breeding record for the species is yet available, but in 1939 I saw a pair in the last week of May at Baton Rouge, another near Plaquemine on May 17, 1946, and George M. Sutton and I noted a pair almost daily at Cameron between April 22 and 30, 1942. If the bird breeds in Cameron Parish, the nesting race may prove to be pallescens, since a bird taken there on April 3, as listed above, belongs to that subspecies.

#Chordeiles minor minor# (Forster), Eastern Nighthawk

Since the one previous record (Oberholser, op. cit., 348) of the occurrence of this subspecies in the state now proves to be an example of C. m. howelli, the following specimens, all taken after the publication of Oberholser's book, constitute the only Louisiana records: 4 , 1 [Female], University, October 3, 5, 12, 23, 1941 (Burdick, Howell, Ray, and Lowery); 4 , 1 [Female], University, May 15, 18, 22, 30, 1942 (Burdick and Lowery); 1 , Creole, September 2, 1944 (Burdick).

#Chordeiles minor howelli# Oberholser, Howell Nighthawk

The only state records known, all previously unpublished, are as follows: 1 [Female], Colfax, May 15, 1937 (Lowery); 2 , 1 [Female], University, May 23 and 24 and October 3, 1941 (Ray and Lowery); 3 , University, May 22 and 25, 1942 (Burdick); 1 , Chloe, 10 miles south, April 28, 1945; 1 , Creole, 2 miles west, April 30, 1945 (Tucker).

#Chordeiles minor aserriensis# Cherrie, Cherrie Nighthawk

Three specimens, one male and two females, taken from flocks of migrating nighthawks at University on September 29 and October 3 and 9, 1941 (Ray and Lowery), are the only records of the occurrence of this race in the state.

#Chordeiles minor sennetti# Coues, Sennett Nighthawk

A female taken at University on September 29, 1941 (Burdick), and a male shot at the same place on May 22, 1942 (Lowery), constitute the basis for the addition of this subspecies to the Louisiana list.

#Chordeiles acutipennis texensis# Lawrence, Texas Nighthawk

At dusk on April 10, 1942, in company with Burdick and Ray, I encountered a small flock of nighthawks feeding over the marsh near the beach a few miles from Cameron. Darkness came before more than two could be collected, but both of these proved to be the Texas Nighthawk, a species not heretofore recorded from Louisiana. On the following day a nighthawk was found perched in a tree near the marsh where the birds had been seen the previous evening. It was collected and likewise proved to be texensis.

#Muscivora forficata# (Gmelin), Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

The nesting of this species in northwestern Louisiana has been indicated for some time, especially after Wallace noted it at Lucas, in Caddo Parish, on June 16 and July 21, 1942. However, the first authentic breeding record for the state was furnished by a freshly built nest found by Edgar W. Fullilove and myself several miles below Bossier, on July 3, 1945. At least two pairs were found there in a large cotton field in which an occasional pecan tree had been left standing. The nest was in one of these trees, about 25 feet from the ground and far out on the end of a limb. Fullilove informed me that to his knowledge the species had nested in this field for at least ten years and that on numerous previous occasions he had seen both nests and young.

#Myiarchus cinerascens cinerascens# (Lawrence), Ash-throated Flycatcher

The first record of the occurrence of this species in Louisiana is that of a male collected by Howell at University, on March 20, 1943. On December 23, 1945, I shot a second specimen, a female, on the bank of False River opposite New Roads. When found, both birds were actively pursuing insects and on being skinned, both were found to be very fat.

#Empidonax flaviventris# (Baird and Baird), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Oberholser (op. cit., 394) listed this species as a rare autumn transient, citing one definite Louisiana record for that season. On the contrary, the species is quite regular in fall. Six specimens have been collected at University, one each on September 12, 17, 18, and 28, 1940, October 22, 1942, and September 26, 1943 (Lowery and Wallace). Two others have been taken at Cameron, on October 7, 1943 (Burleigh), and September 2, 1944 (Lowery). There are numerous sight records, but since the species cannot be distinguished with certainty in the field from extremely yellow-plumaged Acadian Flycatchers, none of these is recorded.

#Empidonax traillii traillii# (Audubon), Alder Flycatcher

This species long has been regarded as an uncommon transient in Louisiana in both spring and fall. However, recent field work has shown the bird to occur regularly and sometimes abundantly in autumnal migration. Forty-one specimens have been collected at University on dates ranging from August 17 to October 5 (Lowery, et al.). Specimens taken by Burleigh at New Orleans on September 27, 1941, and August 23, 1943, are in the Louisiana State University Museum.

#Empidonax minimus# (Baird and Baird), Least Flycatcher

Oberholser (op. cit., 397) listed this species as an uncommon transient since he had only a few sight records at hand. Since field identification of all eastern empidonaces in fall is open to question, our recent data, based on collected material, are significant. Six specimens have been taken at University on dates ranging from September 15 to October 5, and five at Cameron between July 25 and October 17 inclusive (Lowery, et al.). Another specimen in the collection is that of a bird taken by Burleigh at New Orleans on October 1, 1942. There is, as yet, no unquestionable spring record for Louisiana.

#Pyrocephalus rubinus mexicanus# Sclater, Vermilion Flycatcher

Oberholser (op. cit., 401) listed only one record for this species, a male observed by H. E. Wallace at University, on February 6, 1938, and shot the next day by me. Since 1938, however, it has been found regularly and frequently at numerous localities in southern Louisiana in winter. At Baton Rouge, for example, an adult male was noted almost daily between October 19, 1941, and January 7, 1942, at a small pond on the University campus. An immature male was seen there also on November 25, 1941, but not thereafter. In the following autumn another adult male appeared at the same place on October 23, and was observed regularly until January 15, 1943. Again, an adult male returned to the same area on November 10, 1943, and remained until the middle of January, 1944. W. C. Abbott informs me that for several years one or two individuals have spent the winter at a small willow-bordered pond at his home near Hopevilla, Iberville Parish. Like the individuals noted at Baton Rouge, Abbott's birds arrived in October or November and remained until the following January or February. H. B. Chase, Jr., noted two individuals at City Park Lake in New Orleans in the winter of 1944-45, and three at the same place in the winter of 1945-46. I have seen the species frequently in Cameron Parish, in southwestern Louisiana, where six specimens have been collected on dates ranging from November 4 to January 22. Atwood (Auk, 60, 1943: 453) has also recorded its presence near the Laccasine Refuge in Cameron Parish. An immature male was obtained at False River, near Lakeland, in Pointe Coupee Parish, on November 8, 1942 (Burdick). E. A. McIlhenny writes me that he has seen the species many times at Avery Island and recently he sent me a skin of an adult female which he collected there on October 25, 1945 (also cf. McIlhenny, Auk, 52, 1935: 187). From these data it is evident that the Vermilion Flycatcher is now a regular winter visitor to southern Louisiana.

#Troglodytes troglodytes pullus# (Burleigh), Southern Winter Wren

A rather large series of Winter Wrens, all taken later than the date of publication of Oberholser's book, includes three specimens of this race and provides an addition to the state list. Two of the specimens are males collected at Baton Rouge on November 23 and December 21, 1943 (Burleigh), and the other is a male shot at the same place on January 23, 1944 (Burdick). Several additional specimens in the series are noticeably darker than the average hiemalis and may have migrated from a zone of intergradation.

#Turdus migratorius nigrideus# Aldrich and Nutt, Newfoundland Robin

The only two records for the occurrence of this race in Louisiana are those of specimens taken at Baton Rouge on February 1, 1937, and February 9, 1946 (Lowery).

#Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni# (Tschudi), Eastern Olive-backed Thrush