^°1'^4^^] Allison, Birds of West Baton Rouge Parish, La. 475 



connection of this heron with this locality; it was present in November, 

 1902, its habits being noticeably crepuscular and nocturnal, at the ponds 

 on the batttire, as all land lying outside the levee is called. On January 

 29, 1903, I recorded its return ; but from that date forward I have no 

 records. 



8. Florida cserulea. Little Blue Heron. — The date of arrival of 

 this species was very late ; I saw none until April 20, 1903, when about 

 twenty passed up the river. Apparently some heronries are nearLobdell 

 — the base of my operations — for late in June I found many birds, all 

 but one in white plumage, a few miles west of that point. They had 

 probably bred in inaccessible parts of the wide, wooded batture. 



9. Butorides virescens. Green Heron. — Locally an uncommon 

 species. I saw the first birds flying northward at dusk on April 2, 1903 ; 

 I had thought, however, that I recognized the note in night migration on 

 March 29. After this I had no proof of its presence in the vicinity until 

 there came to my ears, on June 23, 1903, the cry of the Green Heron in 

 the extensive swamps across the river from Lobdell. 



10. Nyctanassa violacea. Yellow-crowned Night Heron. — A 

 common spring migrant after March 22, 1903. According to many 

 reports there are large heronries of the species not many miles west of 

 Lobdell, and it is much too common a practice to despoil these heronries 

 of the ' squabs,' or half-fledged young, to be used as food. 



11. Rallus elegans. King Rail. — An individual of this species was 

 taken alive by a settler in the swamp, and accurately described to me. I 

 was unable to get the date of the capture. I thought I heard the cry of 

 another on the night of June 20, 1903. 



12. Philohela minor. American Woodcock. — -During the winter I 

 spent in this parish. Woodcock were said to be abundant on the left bank 

 of the river (East Baton Rouge Parish) and it is safe to record the species 

 as a winter resident also in West Baton Rouge Parish. 



13. Gallinago delicata. Wilson's Snipe. — Uncommon; it was the 

 first bird — possibly omitting Ardea herodias — to show migrational 

 activity. Two were seen Feb. 3, 1903, and another on Feb. 15; these 

 were the only records. 



14. Actodromas maculata. Pectoral Sandpiper. — A fairly common 

 spring migrant ; present in some numbers on March 19, 1903, and seen 

 again on March 22. 



15. Actodromas minutilla. Least Sandpiper. — A late spring 

 migrant ; noted in small numbers from May 12 to May 25, 1903. 

 The river, falling after its spring rise — of almost unprecedented extent 

 in the season of 1903 — leaves on the batture a deposit of rich silt, and 

 these mud-flats are most favorable to the presence of limicoline birds ; 

 here were seen Least, White-rumped, Semipalmated, and Spotted Sand- 

 pipers, and Semipalmated and Killdeer Plovers. 



16. Actodromas fuscicoUis. White-rumped Sandpiper. — A flock of 

 about fifty appeared in the mud-flats May 14, 1903, and by May 17, the 



