48 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 55. 



or complete, sliall help just a trifle in clearing up some inter- 

 esting points of distribution, migration, breeding habits, and 

 life histories of the birds of Ohio, it will have fulfilled its pur- 

 pose. While the four years of the writer's work in the coun- 

 ty, from July 2G, 1902, to June 1, ]90(i. is but a short time, 

 and his impaired health during the winter, his frequent absence 

 from his field of work, and his otherwise busy life, have made it 

 impossible to do justice to the work, this list is the first effort 

 at systematic ornithological work in the county. 



Seneca county belongs to the tier of counties along the 

 parallel of 41 °, and has more soil under cultivation than any 

 other county in Ohio, in contrast to Scioto and Pike counties, 

 my formier field of work, in which the wooded area exceeds the 

 arable. Seneca county was once covered with dense woods 

 and swamps, of which no large tracts of woods remain ; and 

 of swamps nothing but insignificant pools remain, even the 

 large Bloomville marshes in the south-eastern part of the 

 county having been tiled and drained. These crowded condi- 

 tions cause a great concentration of bird life during the migra- 

 tion season. 



The county is level, a few ravines only being found in the 

 northern and southern parts in close proximity to the San- 

 dusky river, wdiich divides the county into two almost equal 

 parts with Tiffin as the center. 



The climate is rather unhealthful ; the excessive moisture of 

 the atmosphere causing the summer heat to be very oppressive 

 and the winter's cold to cleave bone and marrow. The 

 great amount of snowfall accounts for the small number of 

 residents and winter visitors among the birds. 



Practically the entire county has been worked over with the 

 exception of the south-eastern corner, the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of Tiffin naturally coming in for the greatest amount 

 of attention. The information has been gleaned from the 

 writer's field work and his own and several other local collec- 

 tions, notably that of the Heidelberg University, which he re- 

 labeled and rearranged in the fall of 1904. While these col- 

 lections show that the birds in question have been taken in the 

 countv. thev are greatlv deficient in exact and sufficient data. 



