Lucas, John 1992 Journal Armstrong Ranch, 2 miles E of Armstrong, Kendall Co., Texas. Elevation 20 ft. April 27 itself is said to be 480-500 acres in extent. Mr. Armstrong took me May 2 to a nearby oak smote to see if this habitat was what I was looking (cost) for. I didn't know where to expect to find goldfinches but what information I had suggested that oak smotes were where to look. He left shortly thereafter to attend to ranching duties elsewhere on his property, but giving me permission to explore, to see if goldfinches were sufficiently numerous for my needs, and to meet him at 20:00 to get his views of my plans. I explored the area W. of Highway 77 first. The area is a gentle undulating country of sandy soils, with low hills and ridges bordering broad plains away from the Prairie Red shallow pole (according to Mr. Armstrong, it varied 1/4" 4/25), now as large as 500 x 750 feet, then with little emergent vegetation. There were also scattered, dug-out holes for watering cattle, these invariably were mosquito brogues. The soils are buried over with a 2-3 ft tall herbaceous growth, mostly grasses, but lots of green wildflowers, too. There is almost no naked soil, except at gourd and squirrel burrow concentrations. Mosquito brogues were scattered on these green plains, usually in or near the bottoms of the broad plains. I saw no live oaks W. of Highway 77. East of Hwy 77, the terrain, while still pretty flat, was slightly more undulating. There were numerous live oak smotes (woodlands) which occupied higher ground. These were usually even-aged stands of trees, varying in size from about 1500 square feet to about a hectare. Most smotes were composed of medium size Virginia Live oaks 10-16" dbh and 25-35' tall. Less common were groups of smaller oaks 6-8" dbh and 15-20' tall; least common were widely spaced very large oaks (>24" dbh) 30-45' tall, still forming a closed canopy woodland. The underlying