Vol. XXI 

 igo4 



1 Allison, Birds of West Baton Rouge Parish, La. 473 



make the margins of the fields and ditches more interesting to the 

 botanist than to the agriculturist ; but of the shrubs and trees 

 something further should be said. Beginning at the levee, and 

 going toward the woods, one traverses sugar-cane fields defined 

 by drainage ditches, along which the common elder (^Sambiicus 

 canadensis) is a characteristic shrub, often affording nesting sites 

 to Red-winged Blackbirds. Tall hedges of Osage orange {Toxylon 

 pomiferuffi) often form the boundary lines between one plantation 

 and another, and these are rendered at once more impenetrable 

 to man and more habitable for birds by a growth of blackberry 

 {Rubti sargiitus) and bamboo or cat-brier {S?mlax bona-tiox et 

 J)seudo china). Everywhere along the highroads and fences are 

 dense hedges, sometimes of many hundred yards in length, of the 

 Cherokee rose {Rosa Icevigata); there is no plant more charac- 

 teristic of the lower Louisiana fertile alluvial regions than is this 

 rose. 



There is much undergrowth in many of the small tracts of 

 woodland encountered before one reaches the primeval swamp 

 stretching behind all as interminable as the river running before; 

 this is mainly bamboo, blackberry, switch-cane or cane-reed 

 {Anindinaria tectd), Ampelopsis cordata, and supple-jack {Berche- 

 mia scandens) . This last, with the bamboos, also cHmbs high, as 

 do the trumpet-flower {Teco7na radicajis) and the cross-vine 

 {Bignonia crucigera) . Poison ivy {Rhus radicans) is common 

 everywhere, and its fruit is an important article of avian diet. 

 The smaller trees and shrubs are haw {Cratcegus arborescens), 

 deciduous holly {Ilex decidud)., and cornel {Corniis strictd) \ 

 above these rise cottonwood {Popidus delfoides), water oak 

 {Querctis ?iigra), sweet gum {Liquidanibar styracijlua)., honey 

 locust {Gleditsia triacatithos), sycamore {Flat anus occidentalis), 

 hackberry {Celtis mississippiensis), maple {Acer drummondii)., and 

 ash-leaved maple or box elder {Acer negundd). 



In the deep swamp, though this is fringed with a heavy under- 

 growth, shrubs and vines are hardly present; Spanish moss 

 {Tilla7idsia usneoides) hangs abundantly from the trees, of which 

 the principal species are : ash {Fraxintis lanceolata), water oak 

 {Quercus fiigra), red oak {Quercus rubra), cypress {Taxodium 

 distichuni), and tupelo {Nyssa aquatica). 



