i6i 



THE OOLOGIST 



en route to the river. Bank and 

 Rough-winged Swallows were very 

 scarce this summer, for the reasons 

 mentioned before. One or two Mi- 

 grant Shrikes were seen on the drive, 

 but they are not abundant. 



I had the interesting sight of lying 

 under a papaw bush and watching 

 two busy Red-eyed Vireos search its 

 top for insects. They were at no time 

 over four feet from my head, and I 

 had an excellent view of these birds 

 which are very abundant in all the 

 woodlands of the Ozarks. A pair of 

 Yellow-throated Vireos frequented 

 the spring and its surrounding heavy 

 woods and shrubbery. White-eyed 

 Vireos were heard at intervals, but 

 were loath to appear in open view. 

 Of the three species, the former is 

 by far the commonest. 



Black and White Warblers are most 

 abundant breeders along the two 

 streams that we visited this season. 

 They are a common sight in all the 

 woodlands, even on the uplands, 

 where they have strayed after nest- 

 ing in the bottom timberlands. Yel- 

 low Warblers were not seen after we 

 left the more open uplands, especially 

 after passing out of the orchard sec- 

 tions. The Sycamore Warbler was 

 seen once. It is not uncommon on 

 the river. Louisiana Water-thrushes 

 were abundant and tame. We had an 

 excellent chance to observe them, 

 with their wag-tail manner of teeter- 

 ing back and forth. One frequented 

 the spring; we never went after 

 water without finding him sitting on 

 a rock in the spring branch teetering 

 all about the narrow run until we got 

 close enough for him to take alarm. 

 A very companionable bird made us 

 a visit in camp twice. This bird came 

 up over the high bank and fed for 

 some minutes about the camp fire, 

 the Ford (for which he showed no 

 concern), and all about the tent and 

 breakfast table, showing no concern 



for us even when just a few feet away 

 from us. The Kentucky Warbler was 

 common, but was hard to find because 

 of its habit of frequenting low and 

 damp places in the deep undergrowth. 

 Maryland Yellow-throats and Yellow- 

 breasted Chats were rather common, 

 being more abundant along the small- 

 er creeks and on the prairie region 

 than along the deeper river. The 

 Redstart is very common everywhere. 



Mockingbirds, Thrashers and Cat- 

 birds are all abundant even along 

 the river in the wildest place. The 

 former is the , least common of the 

 three species. Without them this 

 regioj would be to a great extent 

 songless for most of the summer sea- 

 son. The creek bottoms and all 

 along the river never failed from day 

 light till dark to ring with the call of 

 the Carolina Wren. It was present 

 singly and in grown families; it 

 overran the camp and the wooded 

 bottoms. A few Bewick Wren were 

 seen, but none along the river. Most 

 of them were in the vicinity of dwell- 

 ings along the road. One or two birds 

 I saw which I am sure were Prairie 

 Marsh Wrens, but there were so many 

 Carolinas that we spent little time 

 trying to find out which were which. 



White-breasted Nuthatches were a 

 most common sight; this region is 

 very thickly populated in the creeping 

 birds of that nature. Tits and Chicka- 

 dees are also extremely abundant 

 throughout the section covered, being 

 about evenly distributed over all sec- 

 tions of the country hereabouts. The 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a fairly com- 

 mon summer resident; a few of them 

 were seen and heard on our trip; 

 they frequent the higher woods and 

 ridges more than the bottoms; they 

 are also rather common in the orch- 

 ard section. 



Wood Thrushe.'^ are more common 

 than usual this summer. One fine 

 pair nested on the hillside behind our 



