•^OO Beckham on the Birds of Bayou Sara, La. [October 



had its effect upon the water birds, as but few were seen, but 

 nearly all the species of land birds noted were represented by 

 large numbers of individuals. At the date of my arrival vegeta- 

 tion was very far advanced, and at the stage which ordinarily 

 prevails in the neighborhood of Washington about the middle of 

 May. 



A great deal of time was spent collecting in the densely wooded 

 ravines alluded to further on, localities almost entirely neglected 

 during my former visit. It was here that Swainson's Warbler 

 most abounded, and the Hooded was always to be seen and heard 

 in the same haunts ; the male leisurely skipping about the 

 branches at a distance of ten or twenty feet from the ground, sing- 

 ing in a languid sort of way, while the sharp tsip of the less 

 gaudily attired female proceeded from the canes and scant under- 

 growth near the ground. On April 17 I found an empty nest, 

 just finished, two feet from the ground, in a clump of small canes 

 in one of these ravines, attached to one of the canes. On the 

 24th the female was seen on the nest, which then contained four 

 perfectly fresh eggs. These birds were also very abundant in 

 the swamp, where I once heard four singing at the same time. 



The Mockingbird and Brown Thrasher were fully as abundant 

 as in 1S82 ; the former being found in the usual open places, 

 near dwellings, in gardens, etc., and great numbers of them were 

 nesting in the Cherokee rose bushes along Alexander's Creek. 

 Like most of his tribe, the Mockingbird readily adapts himself 

 to his environment in the matter of nest-building, and finding 

 cotton-wool the most abundant and accessible material suitable for 

 his purposes he uses a great deal of it. In all the nests examined 

 (at least a dozen) the 'great staple' was the principal constit- 

 uent. The Thrashers I found in every sort of place visited : 

 building their nests in the crepe myrtles and rose bushes about 

 the house, and again down in the darkest and most dismal places 

 in the swamp. 



The Catbird did not put in his appearance until the 18th. 

 Although abundant here, he is a bird of very retiring habits, and 

 exclusively a denizen of the woods and dense thickets, so that 

 but few of the natives know of his presence at all, while in most 

 northern and eastern localities he is as familiar a bird as the 

 Robin or House Wren. However, the Wood Thrush, which is 

 very common, makes an agreeable substitute, coming about the 



