Birds from Coahuila, Mexico Part 1

Birds from Coahuila, Mexico.

by Emil K. Urban.

INTRODUCTION

The following account is a summary of the present knowledge of the birds of Coahuila. Some 500 specimens from Coahuila in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas are the basis for this report; these are supplemented by records of birds previously listed from the State.

In Coahuila, habitats vary from those characteristic near tree-line to those of the floors of the low deserts. Because of the variety of habitats, many kinds of birds are present in the State; at least 312 living named kinds of 249 species have been recorded. Possibly another 100 species will be reported after further studies have been made there. At least 154 of the species listed in this paper probably breed in Coahuila. The bird fauna in the State includes species characteristic of eastern North America and of western North America, species that range from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and species found only, or mostly, in Mexico.

I thank Professor E. Raymond Hall, Doctor Richard F. Johnston and Doctor Robert M. Mengel for their kind help, and Doctor Harrison B.

Tordoff for first suggesting this study to me. Unless otherwise stated, the nomenclature in this paper is that of the A.O.U. Check-list Committee (1957). Catalogue numbers are those of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas. In so far as known to me, all birds recorded in the literature from Coahuila are listed below. In a few instances the only support for occurrence is the ascription of a given kind to Coahuila (without mention of date, catalogue number, or precise locality) by Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore (1950), and/or the A.O.U. Check-list Committee (1957); when this is so the entire entry is inclosed within brackets. In the accounts beyond, an asterisk indicates that the kind breeds in Coahuila; two asterisks indicate probable breeding in the State.

LIST OF COLLECTORS

Persons who have obtained specimens of birds from Coahuila for the Museum of Natural History are as follows:

Albert A. Alcorn Joseph Raymond Alcorn Sydney Anderson Rollin Harold Baker James Sheldon Carey Peter Stanley Chrapliwy W. Kim Clark Robert William d.i.c.kerman John R. Esther James Smith Findley John Keever Greer John William Hardy Gerd H. Heinrich William McKee Lynn Jack M. Mohler Roger O. Olmstead Robert Lewis Packard Robert Julian Russell William J. Schaldach, Jr.

Harrison Bruce Tordoff South Van Hoose, Jr.

Olin Lawrence Webb

GAZETTEER OF LOCALITIES IN COAHUILA

The following place-names were used to record the localities of Coahuilan birds now specimens in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. Each place-name is followed by its location in degrees and minutes of lat.i.tude and longitude, respectively.

Acebuches.--2817', 10256'.

Americanos.--2712', 10314'.

Australia.--2618', 10218'.

Bella Union.--2526', 10051'.

Boquillas.--2911', 10255'.

Castillon.--2821', 10333'.

Cuatro Cienegas.--2658', 10204'.

Diamante.--2522', 10054'.

Don Martin.--2732', 10037'.

Fortin.--2848', 10141'.

General Cepeda.--2522', 10128'.

Gomez Farias.--2458', 10102'.

Hermanas.--2713', 10113'.

Iglesias.--2734', 10120'.

Jaco.--2750', 10355'.

Jimenez.--2904', 10042'.

La Babia.--2833', 10203'.

La Gacha.--2809', 10131'.

La Mariposa.--2812', 10149'.

La Ventura.--2448', 10038'.

Las Delicias.--2610', 10249'.

Las Margaritas.--2842', 10114'.

Mesa de Tablas.--2514', 10024'.

Muzquiz.--2753', 10132'.

Nava.--2825', 10046'.

Ocampo.--2722', 10226'.

Paila.--2538', 10209'.

Parras.--2525', 10212'.

Piedras Blanca.--2902', 10233'.

Piedras Negras.--2843', 10032'.

Sabinas.--2752', 10107'.

Saltillo.--2526', 10100'.

San Antonio de las Alazanas.--2516', 10037'.

San Buenaventura.--2706', 10132'.

San Francisco.--2737', 10237'.

San Geronimo.--2830', 10148'.

San Isidro.--2733', 10227'.

San Juan de Sabinas.--2755', 10117'.

San Lorenzo.--2528', 10212'.

San Marcos.--2641', 10207'.

San Miguel.--2914', 10122'.

San Pedro de las Colonias (San Pedro).--2545', 10258'.

Santa Teresa.--2627', 10121'.

Tanque Alvarez.--2756', 10238'.

Torreon.--2533', 10327'.

Villa Acuna.--2919', 10056'.

For mountain ranges, the approximate center of the highland of each range is used as the point of reference.

Pico de Jimulco.--2508', 10316'.

Sierra del Carmen.--2900', 10230'.

Sierra de la Encantada.--2825', 10230'.

Sierra de Guadalupe.--2513', 10132'.

Sierra del Pino.--2815', 10303'.

Sierra de la Madera.--2703', 10230'.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE KNOWN BREEDING BIRDS OF COAHUILA

Topography and Climate

Coahuila lies in the broad northern end of Mexico, immediately east of the center of the continental ma.s.s. The mountains of Coahuila, which are part of the Rocky Mountain-Sierra Madre Oriental Axis, extend in a north-south direction and divide the lower lands into two areas, a larger one, a part of the Central Plateau, to the westward and a smaller one, a part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, to the northeastward.

Most of the mountains of Coahuila do not exceed 6000 feet in elevation.

A few peaks such as in the Sierra del Carmen, Sierra del Pino, Sierra de la Madera, Sierra Encarnacion, and Sierra de Guadalupe, are more than 9000 feet high, and some more than 10,000 feet in elevation occur near the southeastern border of the State in the Sierra Madre Oriental.

The Gulf Coastal Plain of northeastern Coahuila ranges from 700 feet to 1800 feet. The desert plains of the Mesa del Norte to the west of the Sierra Madre Oriental Axis are higher, more rugged, and more dissected than those of the Coastal Plain and are marked by scattered desert ranges, b.u.t.tes, low hills, and k.n.o.bs.

Most of Coahuila is arid. Rainfall is moderate on the Coastal Plain and is low west of the central mountains. Baker (1956:128-132) and Muller (1947:35-38) give good summary discussions of the topography and climate of Coahuila, and the reader is referred to these for further details.