THE OSPRRY. 



11 



wearing- old shoes and trousers in prefer- 

 ence to waders. A student of the water- 

 birds must not object to g-etting- wet and 

 muddv. The immediate 1)ank of the river 

 is a dry ridg-e sei)aratin<r the swamp-hikc 

 from the river, and it is thickly wooded 

 with the willow. ma])le, elm, and other 

 typical growths, intergrown with climlv 

 ing-and creep- 

 ing- vines and 

 bushes. Here 

 is a typical 

 home for the 

 Warbling and 

 R e d - e y e d 

 Vireos, a n d 

 through t h e 

 livelong- d a y 

 their notes are 

 heard on ev- 

 ery side. Here 

 also are the 

 homes of the 

 silently mov- 

 ing- and g-ut- 

 tural- voiced 

 Cuckoos, the 

 confiding and 

 familiarBlack 

 capped Tit- 

 mouse, the querulous Crested P^lycatcher, 

 the retiring'WoodThrush.the lowly minded 

 Maryland Yellowthroat,and the happy In- 

 dig-o Bunting-. Here is heard sweet plaint 

 of the Wood Pewee, and ever above all the 

 loud vibratory notes of the Prothonotary 

 Warbler; not above all, either, for the 

 harsh calls of the Grackles mingle with 

 the full whistle of the Cardinal and the 

 shrill squeaky efforts of the Cowbird, 

 while the various species of Woodpeckers 

 lend their notes to the vivacity of the 

 scene. Having- crossed the low ridg-e, 

 thoug-h stopping- now and then to investi- 

 g-ate the home of a warbler or \ireo and 

 adding- to our collection such specimens 

 as our fancy suj^g-csts, we strike the 

 "buckbrush," which marks the division 

 between the wooded river-bank and the 

 swamj). Here the Red-winged Blackbird 

 is nesting in numbers, and sometimes we 

 are led to search for the well-concealed 

 home of a Yellow-breasted Chat when we 

 hear the excellent imitation of a school- 

 boy's whistle, followed by a series of 

 peculiar notes resembling- the harsh cries 

 of young grackles in their nest. 



Pushing- our way through the 'iiuck- 



brush " with some effort, we finally 

 emerg-e upon the open area occupied by 

 Flag- Lake, an ex])anse less than a mile 

 wide and perha])s several miles long-, 

 filled with a level g-rowth of fiag-s and 

 having- several areas of open water toward 

 the middle. Harsh cries salute our ears, 

 the cackling of Coots and (lallinules. the 





LOTUS BED IX yl"IVKK LAKE. 



sharp, g-uinea-like "kraa" of the King 

 Rail, the distant g-uttural pumjnng of the 

 American Bittern, and the coarse "quock"" 

 of Mallards and Sprig-tails feeding in the 

 shallow reg-ion near our entrance. Dur- 

 ing- my visit to this swamp last spring, in 

 the latter half of May, the outer margin 

 of the lake was dry "and the flags for a 

 width of seventy yards were brown and 

 hard. Thence the water gradually ap- 

 peared, varying- from pure mud to clear 

 water of a depth never reaching to my 

 knees, except in the open areas. The 

 circle of greenish llag-s g-rowing- in the 

 mud and shallow water is the home of 

 the King Rails. Indeed, we found several 

 nests ctmtaining; sets of well incubated 

 eg-g-s in the outer fringe of dried llag;s 

 from which the water had recetled. and 

 we found no nests of this si)ecies in^ the 

 deei)er water near the open areas. From 

 these facts it api)ears to me that the 

 chosen sites of the King- Rail are where 

 the receding- water will afford their 

 y(mngsters comparatively dry looting 

 when they step from the nest. 



Beyond the ai)parent limits of the King- 

 Rails, among the flags where the ^Tound 



