44 Allison, The Winter Birds of Hancock Co., Miss. \f&n 



NOTES ON THE WINTER BIRDS OF HANCOCK 

 COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI. 



BY ANDREW ALLISON. 



Believing that a series of local list will be a good prelude to a. 

 published list of the avifauna of Mississippi — "one of our best 

 neglected States," an ornithologist of experience has called it — 

 I have thought it advisable to put forward the following few re- 

 marks on the winter birds of Hancock County; more especially 

 as the coast region of this State seems to be even less known than 

 the interior. 



Hancock is the most western of the three coastal counties of 

 Mississippi. Its western border is Pearl River, and extensive 

 salt meadows cover much of that part. The county seat, Bay 

 St. Louis, is on the eastern border; and here the marshes are 

 smaller, and low hills and flat pine barrens are the salient features. 

 This town served as the base of operations for the four-day trip 

 resulting in the records that follow. 



The hills, as well as the flat lands, are more or less pine-clad; 

 but oaks — ■ Quercus falcata, Q. stellata parvifolia, Q. aquatica, 

 Q. laurifolia, Q. nigra, and Q. cinerea — are very important; 

 the live oak (Q. virens) is chiefly restricted to those hills border- 

 ing the bay from which the town takes its name. Hicoria to- 

 mentosa, Magnolia joetida, and Oxydendron arboreum are also 

 common upland trees; the pine barrens are covered with the 

 gall-berry (Ilex glabra); and Callicarpa americana — the 'Span- 

 ish mulberry' — is the most important of the dry-ground shrubs. 



Between these hills are sluggish streams, draining into the marshes 

 of the bay; in the low, wet, areas along these streams grow Mag- 

 nolia glauca, Nyssa biflora — which also spreads farther up the 

 hillside, — Cyrilla racemiflora, and Cliftonia ligustrina. Several 

 species of Smilax climb over these trees; and of shrubs there are 

 Azalea nudiflora et viscosa, Vacciniam elliottii, and, most impor- 

 tant of all, the anise or rose-bay (Illicium floridanum). Salix 

 longifolia occurs in more open places, and Acer rubrum is also 

 common. These strips of low wet woods are called 'bay-galls.' 



