100 



THE OSPREY. 



later by two Baltimore Orioles, a pair of King- 

 birds, and a House Wren who felt called upon to 

 add his opinion on the subject. 



The shower soon ended in a drizzle and this 

 gradually gave way. and every now and then 

 the clouds would part and the sun would 

 extend a short loving glance to some favorite 

 spot and kiss away the pearly drops which be- 

 gemmed all nature. 



Bank, Eave. Rough- winged and Tree Swallows 

 were skimming over the river, and before we re- 

 sumed our journey an Indigo mounted a tele- 

 graph wire, and sang his out-of-date song. 



Aside from a number of Crows, a few soar- 

 ing-Hawks and a few Great Blue Herons feeding 

 on the bars, or lazily noppingoff to some secluded 

 pool or roost, where they might continue their 

 fishing business or rest in peace from the toil of 

 the past nig-ht, nothing attracted our eye. until 

 we reached the dam. Here we noticed several 

 Turkey Buzzards, but failed in the attempt to 

 add one to our collection. A Green Heron was 

 frightened from his fishing post by the murder- 

 ous noise and sought refuge in a neighboring 

 willow thicket. 



It may seem strange, but I have never seen 

 these birds (Buzzards) at Burlington. I have 

 found them quite abundant at Iowa City, Cedar 

 Rapids and Decorah, Iowa, but ha\ e never seen 

 them on the Mississippi at Burlington. An im- 

 mense sycamore with many a dead limb, a little 

 distance from the bank of that branch of the 

 Skunk River which runs into Green Bay, about 

 one-half mile from its head, is a favorite roost- 

 ing place of these black brethren. 



We lauded and found the little clearing we 

 had made three years ago, still free of weeds 

 and brush. The place seemed to have found 

 favor in other eyes. At least the charred sticks 

 and ashes from which three blackened rocks 

 peeped forth would indicate a recent visit by 

 man. 



Pretty, busy little Red Starts were everywhere, 

 mostly birds of the season in their youthful 

 dress, Chickadees, not the Carolina of the south- 

 ern states, but our strong-voiced Black Cap. 

 were making the woods resound with their 

 merry notes. Now and then we heard more 

 powerful expressions — instead of dee, dee, dee, 

 dee, — a harsh zee, zee, zee, zee and our heart 

 gave a leap, for this was the note of the Tufted 

 Tit, a bird whose acquaintance we had made in 

 the cold winter of '89 at Blackhawk Spring, 

 near Burlington, but which had ever after been 

 absent from our lists. I noticed Tufted Tits 

 everywhere about Burlington on this visit, in 

 fact they were quite common. Another bird, 

 which I had only once seen in this locality, the 

 Hooded Warbler was found breeding- on Dollar 

 Island, — at least I obtained the male and two 

 quite young specimens, among the dense rag- 

 weed and tangle on the south side. Here it will 

 be well to say that had I not been very familiar 

 with the bird's call- lit is a very abundant species 

 in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia, where 

 I have studied it on several occasions), I would 

 have overlooked it. But the bright sharp pleas- 

 ing call-note, stood out against the othervoices, 

 like a rocket against a dark sky. While maneu- 

 vering among the towering weeds and shedding, 



not salty tears — but many drops of perspi- 

 ration, saying many things to a shell which 

 had become fixed in my auxilliary. I heard 

 another voice which I had often heard in other 

 climes, the Carolina Wren. I have never known 

 this bird here before and while I heard him 

 many and many a time that day and the next, 

 I never was able to call him forth from his 

 tangle again. He had responded to my squeak 

 once, and saw a man, a dangerous man. and 

 with a gun, he learned a lesson and kept his 

 skin. Red-heads and Flickers, and occasionally 



a Red-bellied W Ipecker would announce their 



presence by tap or note. The Hairy and his 

 diminuative counterpart Downy, who by the 

 way is var. medianus, are also on our list, and I 

 suppose it is well to mention the Nuthatch in 

 this connection. 



The mudflats below the east end of the dam 

 provided favorite places for t lie mud -loving shore 

 birds, and a trip over them furnished us with 

 the following list. A noisy Lesser Yellow-leg. 

 a small mixed flock, perhaps fifteen specimens 

 of the Least and Semi-palmated Sandpipers 

 among which three Pectorals moved majesti- 

 cally. A little farther on in the next cove, we 

 found a small bunch of that most beautiful bird 

 the Semi-palmated Plover, and where sand and 

 mud join, changing the black to a whitish hue, 

 a single specimen of the almost snowy Piping- 

 Plover swiftly pursued his prey. (In the very- 

 point of the bar we noted and were noticed by 

 several Spotted Sandpipers who took leave with 

 the usual peet. peet, peet, peet. They were all 

 young birds lacking the spotting of the breast, 

 but having instead the ashy throat. We turned 

 back through the center of the outer of the 

 twins and soon reached the lake which runs 

 almost through its entire length. The summer 

 sun and low stage id' the Mississippi had almost 

 caused it to run dry. Here in this secluded 

 shady place we found several pairs of Solitary 

 Sandpipers which remonstrated at our intrusion 

 with upraised voice and wings. The dense 

 tangle of wild cucumber vines, which spans and 

 unites everything from the very edge of the 

 lake to the main timber, forms an admirable 

 retreat for the Woodcock and the Maryland 

 Yellow-throat. Blue Jays and Crows had evi- 

 dently discovered an t Iwl in the timber, at least 

 their voices proclaimed as much. We hastened 

 to see what the cause of all this racket might 

 be, but arrived only in time to hear that, it 

 was "all over now." 



Numerous Warblers were Hitting about in the 

 tree tops busily gleaning their evening meal. 

 We noted among- them Black-throated Green, 

 Nashville. Parula. a Black-and-White Creeper, 

 and many of the other species mentioned before. 



We paused awhile at the head of the island to 

 watch a large flock of Pelicans Hying south, 

 until they were lost from view. Another train 

 composed of Black Terns also bound for the 

 south passed by, mostly im matures and motley. 

 What a difference in color the various individ- 

 uals of this species present in fall, from the 

 young with white gray and pearl to the adult in 

 checkered or black. 



{To be Continued.) 



