teen years witliin the limits ofonr state. In the pursuit of the 

 study of ornithology 1 have visited nearly every section of the 

 state at different seasons of the year, and in this way learned 

 to understand the variation of bird-life effected by the annual 

 spring and fall migrations. During the spring and summer 

 months of 1886 I made the first extended tour, partly in a 

 pirogue and partly overland, through the entire section 

 covered by the parishes of St. James, St. John the Baptist, 

 St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemine and St. Bernard. 

 In 1888, from the 8th April to the 28th July, I' traversed on 

 foot all parishes north of Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchar- 

 train, east of the Mississippi, with the exception of West 

 Feliciana, establishing on this trip alone the records of 89 spe- 

 cies, or over one-half of the breeding birds of the state. To 

 enumerate other trips, more or less extensive, which were 

 made during the following years would be too tedious and 

 altogether superfluous. 



The geographic location on the southern border of North 

 America, and the semi-tropical climatic conditions of Louis- 

 iana fully account for the fact that at one period of the year 

 or other, at lenst one-third of the species of the entire avi- 

 fauna of North America finds refuge within her precincts. 

 The avifauna of North America is almost distinctly divided 

 into three great sections: the eastern, or Atlantic; the western, 

 or Pacific, and the middle, or Mississippi Valley section. 

 Each is more or less distinct from the other in certain char- 

 acteristics of individual species, and the boundaries of these 

 three geographical sections are sharply defined by natural 

 lines. Louisiana virtually presents the southern entrance and 

 exit of the entire Mississippi Valley section, and nearly all 

 those birds which the rigorous climate of the north compels to 

 migrate are forced to pass, either through the state on their 

 way to warmer climates north of the equator, or [as in the 

 case of the majority] may be invited to seek and find secure 

 winter quarters within her confines. 



The physical. conditions of Louisiana are peculiar, for the 

 more elevated ground is principally on tlie banks of the rivers. 

 The average eleviition of the state is about seventy-five feet 

 above sea-level, and the highest parts are not much over four 

 hundred feet. Back from the rivers are extensive swamps, 

 which drain the arable land, and the larger rivers flow through 

 beds of alluvial soil, which, in width, nuiy vary from one to 

 forty miles. The maritime coast is low and marsliy, lined in 

 its fullest extent by chains of low, sandy, or sometimes marshy 



