THE OOLOOIST. 



139 



Avhite, specked and spotted with red- 

 ^lish browu. They ruu in long diame- 

 ter from .73 to .81 and in short diame- 

 ter from .56 to .63. 



The male bird does not obtain his 

 fnll plnmage imtil the thii'd year, when 

 he is certainlj' the handsomest plnniag- 

 •ed small bird we have. They are miicli 

 sought for here as cage birds, especial- 

 1}- by the French element of the popu- 

 lation who call them "papes" or as it is 

 Americanized "paps." They are gener- 

 ally trapped through the pugnacious 

 disposition of the male, by placing a 

 stuffed Painted Bunting inside of tho 

 trap-cage, in a defiant attitude. The 

 male sees him, and accepts the chal- 

 lenge and alighting on the outspread 

 wing of the cage, is immediately trap- 

 ped by its closing on him. They are 

 kept in confinement just like canaries, 

 and in fact are often crossed Avith them, 

 rhey are soon tamed after being caught 

 and readily become use . to cage life. 



The family of warblers in summer 

 is somewhat limited with us, but to 

 watch that beautiful little bird the Blue 

 Yellow-backed, or Parula Wai-I)ler is an 

 imply recompenses the lost. This hand- 

 -ome, active little fellow arrives here 

 :il)out the middle of March, and spends 

 his time during March and part of 

 April, by wandering through the brush 

 and briar, and among the flags and 

 rushes,like the Maryland Yellow-throat. 

 But as soon as the warmer Aveather of 

 the latter part of April arrives, he tak- 

 eth unto himself a wife, and flies away 

 to the woods in search of a suitable 

 nesting place. 



Here long festoons of the gray Spanish 

 moss hang from every limb. Ah, there 

 is just the one, and the newly wedded 

 l)air soon weave and twist it into a de- 

 sirable fc^rm, with a small iiole at the 

 ~ide for an entrance. The eggs are duly 

 deposited, .some four or five in number 

 white and ground color, with spots of 

 various .shades of brown, ranging in 

 size from .62 x .42 to .70 x .48. 



The Parula Warbler probably lays 

 two sets of eggs in this southern lati- 

 tude as there are instances of eggs hav-* 

 ing been taken in July. 



The Bax'tramian Sandpiper is in some 

 parts a rather common migrant, but of 

 late years has bectjme somewhat scarce. 

 It is highly esteemed for the table here, 

 and generally commands a high price. 

 The flesh is certainly delicious and any 

 one who has tasted a "Papaljote," for 

 such is the. name give them here by the 

 French, will affirm my statement. The 

 The Bartramian only occurs as a spring 

 and fall migrant, never remaining here 

 as it breeds much farther north. 



Davie gives the eggs as ''pale clay or 

 l)ufl-spotted with lunber and brown. . . . 

 four in nuuil)cr, sizes 1.70 to 1.90 by 

 1.28. 



The Yellow-croAvned Night Heron, in 

 some parts of this state esiiecially the 

 southern, is a ver'y common bird. Its 

 flesh is highly esteemed bj^ the Creoles, 

 but they eat anything that has wings. 

 A rookery of these herons which I visi- 

 ted (not a thousand miles away from 

 the city, by the wiiy) consisted of about 

 an acre of cleared ground in the midst 

 of a cypress swamp. This place had 

 been thickly grown up witli willows 

 and here the Yellow-crowned, Little 

 Blue, and Louisiana Herons held forth 

 in company with the Auhinga or "Nig- 

 ger Goose" as it is locally called. And 

 such a chorus of squawks, and screams 

 and squeals arose from that place that 

 you couldn't hear yourself talk. 



Every willow had two or three nests 

 in it, and there must bave been severaal 

 thousand birds in the rookery. And 

 now in conclusion let us speak of the egg 

 of the Yellow-crowned Night Heron, as 

 space is limited, and we must not im- 

 pose on the editor. There are general- 

 ly from three to six eggs in each nest, 

 and they are of that blue tint i)eculiar 

 to all herons. They vary greatly in 

 sizes, ranging from as small as 1.60x1.14 

 to as large as 1 .77x1.22, but it is next to 



