16 BIRDS OF SWOPE PARK 



while Marsh Hawks soared high then low as they searched the 



meadow for their rodent prey. 



Two other cleared tracts should be mentioned : These 

 are the golf courses; one east of the Pavillion at the west en- 

 trance of the Park, the other to the far east across the Blue 

 River. Here the grass is close-cropped, and there are few op- 

 portunities for birds to hide their nests. 



A considerable part of the territory about the Pavillion 

 and the golf course is bordered with clumps of horticultural 

 varieties of shrubs, and in some parts with a natural growth 

 of buckbrush, sumach and native trees of crab and red haw, 

 and clumps of evergreens, making excellent cover for certain 

 species of birds. 



The opportunities for water birds in the Park are but 

 limited. The Blue River is too small to be of much attrac- 

 tion to them, and the Lagoon and the Lake of the Woods are 

 both relatively small, and are lined with too many human 

 fishermen to offer any inducement to the birds. It is true, 

 however, that a few Green Herons fish along the Blue, and a 

 Kingfisher or two frequent the Lake of the Woods. During 

 severe weather of early migration, when few people are in the 

 Park, weary waterfowl occasionally rest on these small bodies 

 of water, and a few shore birds wade out in the shallows and 

 probe the mud for snails and insect larvae. 



To summarize : of the one thousand three hundred thirty- 

 two acres in the Park, approximately five hundred fifty acres 

 are lowland, of which four hundred acres are wooded and one 

 hundred fifty acres cleared. About seven hundred ninety acres 

 are hilly upland, some of it quite rough, of which five hundred 



