THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology. 



Published IVIontblv. 



Volume V. 



SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 1900. 



Number 1. 



Original Articles. 



BIRDS OF THE ROAD.— VIII. AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER. 

 Bv Paul Bartsch. Washington, D. C. 



For some time Zizania has been waving 1 its 

 graceful heads with the ripening' seeds, most 

 invitingly in the breeze, and the English Spar- 

 rows and Red-wings have been feasting and 

 lately too the metallic chink, chink, chink of 

 the Bobolink, who is now travelling' as Mr. Reed 

 Bird, has been wafted to us. as we have trav- 

 ersed the neighborhood of the marsh. Chink, 

 chink, chink, day by day they have been coming 

 to feast and fatten on the table spread for them 

 and with them came the 22nd of August, a day 

 of happiness to the sportman and oire of misery, 

 pain and death to the unsuspecting little fellows, 

 who but yesterday enjoyed the grain in happy, 

 happy revelry. 



The Bobolink. 



August the 22nd is the sportsman's day in the 

 District of Columbia; on this day the law per- 

 mits him to lawfully pursue the birds of the 

 marsh and wage unrelenting war upon the 

 Reed Bird and the Sora and anything having 

 wings and feathers naturally falls under these 

 two categories. 



The marshes about the District, enumerated 

 according to size and extent, cover: 1st. the East- 



ern Branch region, extending from the Anacos- 

 tia Bridge to about a half mile north of Ben- 

 nings; 2nd. the Virginia shore of the Potomac, 

 extending from Analostan Island to within one 

 mile of Long Bridge; 3rd. Roches Inlet which 

 leads to quite an expanse of marsh at its head, 

 and lastly, Four Mile Run, Va. 



The frontispiece gives a view of Eastern 

 Branch looking south from the B. & P. R. R. 

 Bridge, showing the New Bridge in the distance 

 and a large piece of marsh between the two. 



Not being sportsmanly inclined, I had for- 

 gotten the change made in the g'ame laws, which 

 has precipitated the killing from the 1st of Sep- 

 tember to the 22nd of August; I was therefore 

 somewhat surprised when long before light had 

 proclaimed the presence of another day, I was 

 awakened by the muffled reports of guns which 

 have not improperly been designated as the fir- 

 ing of a skirmish line. Being on leave I decided 

 to witness this day of all da}-s on the marsh. 



All the skiffs were out, — that is, the little crafts 

 which the man after Sora engages, — and it was 

 just as well for us, for we were only spectators 

 and could do just as well observing from our 

 broad fiat-bottomed boat as the man in the frail 

 little craft whose greatest breadth is scarce 

 three feet in its widest part, while its bottom 

 rarely exceeds two. These little boats are 

 doubled-bowed. usually sixteen feet in length, 

 and from ten inches to a foot in depth, have a 

 single seat a little in front of the centre, and 

 usually an air-tight compartment at each end. 

 They are propelled by a pole, or paddle. The 

 pole is widely folked at the end and some fifteen 

 feet in length, and it is remarkable how wonder- 

 fully the little craft can be wielded through and 

 over in and out among the dense tall reeds by 

 its use in adept hands. 



The marsh was alive with crafts of all kinds, 

 plying through the tangle and maze of Zizania, 

 lily-pads and the host of other marsh-loving 

 plants, and bang-, bang rang the guns continu- 

 ally. All were after Rail or Ortolan, but most 



