Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 85

TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 85

sure at quite a dlistance.) When
cronch'in, on a tree limb or on its
hreedin, 1 plae, only the gray or
dark reddish thrown and dotted
edlors are inoticcl , with perhaps
tile cirlclllar white lines aronld it
nc1(k. hu1t, ill its f'liin or slrea 1
,out p1sili n. acs sein on the photo,
hereiui, the large white dotted
wings ard tail feathers of the
hallhat are prominently exposed.
whil lhetle balance of the body oft-
en simulates its slurr1ounilinlgs as
sfe il O1 thI' )hOtO..

quite limb, the bird is often pas-
sed by unrecognized, as the hark
of the mesquite tree, with its
lonitnudinal and corrugated ap-
pearance of its protuberances and
interlininattions of more or less
lroad hands of a light bluish-g r y
or dark thrown color. simulates the
,Iutlines of its host closely. And all
this leads oine to reflect: Are these
distinct traits in the life history
of our Texas bullbat bird merely
"instinct" or rather deliberate
rasollin ?

ti.i.;trs J srT I I.L EiD. Photo on the Siot Found
Si ihtlty Enlargedi From the Original Photograph i

Anit equally remliarkable is the
fat, that this interesting hullhat,
ev'El t lhe Volln ' birdis, ais sOon a.s
able to fly. will st"lk a tree iranclll.
within prefer lnce to that of a mIes-
liuitl tree to rest on, after hours of
,cIntiIuc1is f'lyin abroad after
li1'ht ilnselts iand1 always, as a
rule. such branch is selected after
repeated and continuous circular
tours of inspection, which closely
simulates its bodyl margins; andti
when crouchin at rest on a mes-

I was closing this chapter, when,
last Sunday, in company with my
friend, A. lIauibold, we enideavo-
ed to find the same place again
we had found the Sunday pre-
vious-a breeding bullbat on its
egrs on the ground below a mes-
quite bush. We had marked the
bush with strips of paper and
white rays. in order to more easi-
ly find the place again. This, how-
ever, was not quite as easy as ex-
pected. We had to pass several