422 NOTES ON THE 



the range of numbers, and they are somewhat variable in the 

 intensity of the color between light ash and brown, being so 

 thickly blotched as to give it those colors, although the general 

 hue without the blotching would be white. Their song is a 

 poor representative of bird-melody, consisting of little more 

 than an indistinct rasping, or grating sounds, not unlike the 

 sound of a sliver on a fence rail vibrating in the wind. They 

 feed principally upon tiny mollusks, and aquatic insects of 

 various kinds. 



It is a very difficult matter to find just the time when they 

 habitually return to the South, but I think that as a general 

 thing it is by the 1st to the 5th of September, with occasional 

 exceptions in either direction. 



My collector Mr. P. L. Washburn, who visited the valley of 

 the Red river in the interests of the survey, found this species 

 like the other, abundant, breeding in large colonies. He calls 

 it " a noisy chatterer, pre-eminently inquisitive; and as nimble 

 as a mouse. Standing among reeds, up to my waist in water, 

 and watching the movements of a flock of ducks several yards 

 in front of me, the noise of my movements attracted about me 

 countless numbers of these birds. Chattering angrily at my 

 intrusion, they came toward me from every side, scrambling 

 from reed to reed, head downward and peering at me with the 

 brightest of black eyes, seeming to demand of me by what 

 right I had tresspassed on the lawful territory of the Lilli- 

 putians. Its song is monotonous and squeaky." 



Mr. J. M. Holzinger, Curator of the Normal School Museum, 

 at Winona, says it is "abundant around Lake Winona." That 

 it is generally distributed over the entire State there can be no 

 doubt. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill about as long as head; tail and wing nearly equal. 

 Upper parts dull reddish brown, except on the crown, inter- 

 scapular region, outer surface of tertials, and tail feathers, 

 which are almost black; the first with a median patch like the 

 ground color, the second with short streaks of white extending 

 round on the sides of the neck; the third indented with brown; 

 the fourth barred with whitish, decreasing in amount from the 

 outer feather, which is marked from the base to the fifth, 

 where it is confined to the tips; the two middle feathers like 

 the back, and barred throughout with dusky. Beneath rather 

 pure white, the sides and under tail coverts of a lighter shade 

 of brown than the back; a white streak over the eye 



Length. 5.50; wing. 2.08; tail, 2. 



Habitat, United States, abundant in reedy swamps. 



