^'igoj^ 111 ] Beyek, Allison, Kopman, Birds of Louisiana. 11 



found regularly along the higher course of the Mississippi is roughly 

 duplicated on these batture lands, whose avifauna, especially in 

 migration, is frequently worth careful investigation. 



Much of the flood-plain of the Mississippi along the northern 

 half of its course in Louisiana is marked by very heavy swamp and 

 a multiplicity of shallow woodland lakes, formed by cut-offs and 

 ox-bow loops of the river. The water-bird life of the southeastern 

 part of the State is reflected in this region. 



Passing on to a broader consideration of topographical division 

 in Louisiana, we thus have: (1) an extreme lowland coastal plain, 

 including, as already described, the fertile delta plain of marshes 

 and wet woodland and cypress swamp in the east, and the prairies 

 and marshes in the west; and (2) an upland region, exhibiting 

 successive degrees of elevation, from south to north, beginning 

 with the slightly elevated long-leaf pine flats, and continuing through 

 the long-leaf pine hills, and the uplands of short-leaf pine, oak, and 

 hickory. This upland region, however, is traversed by the flood 

 plains of the Mississippi and Red Rivers; the former extends along 

 the eastern border of the State, the latter runs diagonally from the 

 northwest corner and joins the Mississippi plain somewhat below 

 the center of the State. 



The transition from the river bottoms is chiefly direct in the case 

 of Red River; along the Mississippi, however, it frequently occurs 

 through a type of country not heretofore noticed. This further 

 type is known as the blufflands (the cane hills of Hilgard). It is a 

 more or less broken and elevated region, lacking extensive growths 

 of pine, but showing a characteristic mixture of oaks, hickory, 

 magnolia, and beech. These blufflands not only border the Miss- 

 issippi flood plain, but in many instances, on the eastern side, in 

 both Louisiana and Mississippi, extend to the river itself, so that 

 the west shore at many points is flat and fertile alluvial, while the 

 corresponding east shore shows precipitous banks, such as the hills 

 upon which Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Vicksburg are situated. 



The general similarity between the delta plain in southeast Lou- 

 isiana and the rest of the Mississippi flood-plain lying within the 

 State, has already been noted. The typical parts of the flood-plain 

 throughout its length are essentially the same. Towards the north, 

 of course, the general elevation is greater, and of interest are the 



