58 SIXTEENTH REPORT. 



Redstart, Olive-backed Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, 

 Black-throated Green Warbler. 



Moraine. — West of Vermilion, on the Luce-Chippewa county line, there is 

 a morainic area, the soil of which is a sandy till. The northern end of this 

 ridge was included in the region studied. The moraine is much cut up 

 ^^^th deep ravines and low swampj' areas. The higher areas are covered 

 with a dense forest of birch, maple and hemlock, with some white pine, 

 beech, and red oak. Some of the swamps are tamarack bogs and others are 

 filled with small trees and bushes. 



The Pileated Woodpecker is chiefly confined to this habitat (birch-maple 

 forest) and evidently occurs in some numbers. The Hairy Woodpecker 

 is also quite abundant, and the Western Horned Owl and Olive-backed 

 Thrush breed, as probably do the Sapsucker, Ruffed Grouse, Flicker, White- 

 throated Sparrow, Mourning Warbler, Canadian Warbler, Blackbumian 

 Warbler, Parula Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Golden- 

 croAATied Kinglet, which were observed. 



Lake Superior. — This habitat needs little description. Only the water 

 within a half mile of the beach is included. The water is shallow or deep, 

 and cold, and the bottom is uniformly of sand. 



There is, of course, in this habitat abundant food for fish-eating birds, 

 which predominate. The Herring Gull is the characteristic species, and the 

 Loon, Merganser, Eagle, Black Duck, and Osprey occur. In the fall and 

 earl}^ winter until the lake is frozen over far from shore, and in the early 

 spring the Old Squaw Duck and White-winged Scoter are apparently com- 

 mon. 



Permanent Ponds. — There are a number of long, narrow ponds of dif- 

 ferent sizes in the depressions between the sand ridges. As a rule, the 

 bottom of these ponds is sand with little or no' covering of debris, but in a 

 few there are areas covered A\ath a shallow deposit of muck, and in a few 

 places there are small floating bogs about the shores. Many of the ponds 

 are connected only in periods of high water, but the largest ones have an 

 open outlet except for a longer or shorter period after storms, when the 

 outlet is dammed with sand. The largest pond, Little Lake, is near the 

 Whitefish Point postoffice. It is about a mile long and a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and from a few inches to four or five feet in depth. The second larg- 

 est is Beaver Lake, about a mile east of Vermilion. The vegetation in 

 these ponds is, as a rule, very scanty. There is frequently a sparse growth 

 of rushes and water lilies, associated with some other forms. Animal food 

 for birds is abundant in proportion to the size and depth of the pond, fish, 

 frogs, and crawfish, leeches, clams, snails and doubtless many other inverte- 

 brates being present in those of sufficient depth. 



The Red-breasted Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Kingfisher, Mallard, 

 Black Duck, Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Sandhill Crane and Spotted Sand- 

 piper were observed feeding in or about Little Lake, and it is certain that 

 geese, swans, and several other ducks stop here on their migrations. 



Transient ponds. — The depressions between the dunes that contain water 

 for only a part of each year are numerous. They are, of course, shallow, 

 and support but little plant or animal life. The flora consists principally 

 of sparse growths of rushes and sedges. The only animals observed were 

 occasional clams and crawfish and a few leopard frogs. 



The American Bittern and Sandhill Crane visit these ponds and the sand- 

 pipers and crows are occasional!}^ seen about the shores. 



Streams and ditches. — As the conditions in the running water habitats were 



