36 



THE OSPREY. 



reclining- in comfortable ease while Uncle 

 Joshua, that dusky dweller of the lake, slowly 

 and with measured stroke drives my canoe 

 silently through the long aisle toward the en- 

 chanting" lake on trip number three. 



Voices of familiar birds greeted us on every 

 hand: the swamp is tilled with musical sound. 

 There are the notes of the Maryland Yellow- 

 throat, the Yellow-breasted Chat, and the ever 

 noisy White- eyed Vireo, greeting you and call- 

 ing to you long before you push your canoe 

 from its mooring-., and as you proceed down the 

 canal, still other familiar- sounds will reach 

 your ear. for the fauna of the adjacent region 

 mingles strongly with the birds which are con- 

 fined to the Swamp proper, and such notes as 

 those of Prairie Warbler and the Chewink will 

 liugerfor a long time. 



For some distance the heavy timber has been 

 cut away and brought out from the swamp by 

 way of the ditch, sometimes as floating logs, 

 sometimes as sections ready to lie cut into 

 shingles or fence posts, as is the case shown in 

 the accompanying illustration, and frequently 





LOGGING. 



as the finished article itself. Both Washington 

 and Jericho Ditch were made with no other end 

 in view than to reach the valuable timber of the 

 region and bring it to market. Formerly a tow- 

 path was kept in repair on one side of the canal, 

 but to-day this has been reclaimed by swamp 

 vegetation, and in many places all traces of it 

 have vanished. For a number of miles there- 

 fore we do not have heavy timber bounding the 

 canal, but a dense almost impenetrable second 

 growth of brush and shrubbery, which extends 

 its branches and vainly attempts to overarch 

 this watery way. < >n these arching branches 

 the Acadian Flycatcher finds a place where he 

 may place his nest and cradle his young, away 

 out of reach of the many reptiles which infest 

 the region This bird is a \erv abundant sum- 

 mer resident throughout the swamp, and its 

 peculiar note is an ever conspicuous feature of 

 the ditch. Its relative, the Great Crest3d Fly 

 catcher, is also present, and its note is always 

 more or less in evidence, but yet the Acadian 

 outnumbers him at least ten to one. Here 

 and there the bank-, of brush give place to 

 In, ivy beds of fern extending for some distance 

 where the soil of the towpath furnishes them a 



foothold. Not uufrequently, too, the sides are 

 bordered by a rank growth of cane, a welcome 

 retreat of the Yellow-throat. This bird assumes 

 more and more the characters of the Florida 

 variety roscoe as one gets deeper into the inte- 

 rior, and I have found it necessary to bestow 

 this varietal name upon the specimens taken 

 about the lake and the surrounding country. 

 These forms are easily distinguished from 

 typical trichas, even in the field, on account of 

 the differences in their notes. The specimens, 

 however, are not typical roscoe, but belong to a 

 form intermediate between true trichas and 

 roscoe, favoring the variety more than they 

 do trichas. 



The two most characteristic birds of the 

 swamp make their appearance soon after one 

 sets out from the landing, becoming more and 

 more abundant as one approaches the lake. 

 These are the two Swamp Wood Warblers, the 

 Prothonotarv and the Hooded, both abundant 

 summer residents of the region. I can think of 

 no fairer picture than such as we beheld on 

 many an occasion during our stay. A narrow, 

 straight, clear, glossy, stretch of dark colored 

 water, bounded by vegitation so rank that it 

 appeared like a veritable wall, with a strip of 

 clear blue sky above and perfect reflection 

 beneath; so perfect in fact, that you will turn 

 the photo taken, over and over before you will 

 satisfy yourself as to which is its correct posi- 

 tion? Here green Smilaces {rotundifolia and 

 laurifolia) bound the whole which in places con- 

 sisted largely of Swamp Azalea [A. viscosa), 

 Wild Cherry, [P. virginianus), Swamp Huckle- 

 berry, ( / straminium), and that splendid shrub 

 with its pendent racemes of showy waxwhite 

 flowers (Leiicothea racemosa) all decked with 

 fragrant blossoms at this season while their 

 shady bases were ensconced in stockings of 

 green moss among which sparkling Sundews 

 might be seen or perhaps a colony of that pretty 

 Orchis (Pogonia ophioglossoides), peeping forth 

 from its deep green setting with beauteous blush 

 of pink, while midst the Sphagnum of the ditch 

 dwelt harmoniously the delicate little Bladder- 

 wort {Utricularia vulgaris), raising on slender 

 pedicel its tiny, delicate, r< isy cup of a blossom up 

 above the watery home of its submerged stem. 

 It is amongst scenes like these that I learned to ap- 

 preciate the beauty of the Golden Swamp Warb- 

 ler most, for here indeed, his brilliant plumage 

 seemed in accord with its surroundings. Ashe 

 appeared for a moment like a blazing meteor 

 passing down this gorgeous aisle to be swal- 

 lowed up the very next by the sheltering- wall 

 of foliage, or perhaps as sometimes happened a 

 pair would be observed ill full chase, then indeed 

 is when the Prothonotory Warbler appears at 

 his best, for extreme animation is added, and 

 the effect of the white in his tail feathers comes 

 into play. 



He is at all times a sprightly lei low. full of 

 activity and music, and considerably on the 

 wing, gliding rapidly from one place to a not Iter. 

 rarely rising high above the lower vegetation, 

 for lie is essentially a bird clinging closely to 

 the proximity of mother earth and water, and 

 yet he is truly arboreal. In his movements he 

 differs from ;ill his relatives. He does not 



