Vol.XXVII 

 1910 



] Embody, Birds obserreil at Ashknul, Virginia. 169 



A LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT ASHLAND, VIRGINIA. 



BY G. C. EMBODY, 



Cornell University. 



The town of Ashland is situated near the center of Hanover 

 County, about ninety-nine miles south of Washington and seventeen 

 miles north of Richmond. The region occupies a position inter- 

 mediate between the typical piedmont plateau and the coastal plain, 

 the former occurring three miles to the west, the latter a somewhat 

 greater distance to the east. 



From Ashland to the southward the drainage is into the Chicka- 

 hominy River; to the northward, into tlie South Anna and Pa- 

 munkey Rivers, the former river tributary to the latter. The range 

 in altitude for the whole area is approximately from two hundred to 

 two hundred and forty feet above sea-level. The region is poorly 

 drained and in many places standing water occurs at varying 

 depths from two to six feet below the surface. Much land is 

 unfit for cultivation because of this excessive amount of water. In 

 such fields tangles of weeds and briars prevail with scattered patches 

 of sedge, berry bushes and sassafras, all of which furnish food or 

 shelter for such winter residents as Song, Field, and Tree Sparrows, 

 Juncos, Cardinals, and Carolina Wrens; and later, nesting sites for 

 Cardinals, Indigo Buntings, Prairie Warblers, Chats, White-eyed 

 Vireos, Catbirds, and Brown Thrashers. 



The woods, which cover a rather large area, may be conveniently 

 grouped under three types; the high, dry oak wood, the sandy, 

 rather moist pine, and the low moist, sometimes swampy wood in 

 which predominate the tulip-tree {Liriodendron tulipifera), sweet 

 gum and elm (Ulmus americana). The pine type seems to occupy 

 the greatest area and consists almost entirely of trees less than eight 

 inches in diameter. The sweet gum-elm type ranks second in 

 extent, while the dry oak woods occur in scattered places on the 

 well drained hills. The sweet gum-elm woods seem to be the richest 

 in bird life, during migrations as well as during the breeding season. 



There are two bodies of water. Railroad Pond, two miles to the 



