14 Allison, Spring Birds of Tishomingo Co., Miss. [fan 



Other species were the water hare (Lepus aquations) and the 

 opossum (Didelphis virginiana); of raccoons I could not be sure; 

 but I found pawpaw seeds on logs by the creeks, which must have 

 been left there by either these animals or opossums. 



Reptiles were very uncommon, with the exception of two lizards, 

 and all but one were species of rather general distribution. The 

 two lizards referred to are Sceloporus undulatus and C nemidoph- 

 orus sex-lineatus ; the Austroriparian Anolis principalis I saw 

 rarely — once, oddly enough, on a spray of trailing arbutus ! The 

 only snakes I saw were the black form of Bascanium constrictor, 

 and one individual of the "spreading adder" (Heterodon platy- 

 rhinus) . 



Breeding birds, absent in that capacity from most parts of the 

 State, were: Catbird, Phoebe, Prairie Warbler, and Whip-poor- 

 will; as I shall mention again below, I have hypothetically placed 

 on the breeding list Goldfinch and Robin. But with all these 

 mingle such distinctively southern species as Chuck-will's-widow, 

 Red-cockaded W T oodpecker, and Mockingbird. Fuller remarks 

 on these species will follow. Certain birds were noticeably absent 

 — perhaps the most important being Loggerhead Shrike, American 

 Sparrow Hawk, and Red-shouldered Hawk; but their absence 

 was evidently due to local ecological conditions, and is of course of 

 no importance in assigning this county to its place in the life-zones. 



It remains now to sketch the flora. The low hills are thickly 

 wooded, though large trees are the exception except in the valleys: 

 old-field and short-leaf pine (Pinus ta>da et echinatus), hickory 

 (Hicoria tomentosa), dog-wood (Cornus florida), and numerous 

 species of oaks compose the tree growth; while beneath them 

 flourishes an undergrowth of Ericaceous shrubs. 



The oaks are: black-jack (Quercus marilandica) , post oak (Q. 

 minor), scarlet oak (Q. coccinea), Spanish oak (Q. digitata), and 

 chestnut oak (Q. prinus); and the principal species of huckleberry 

 are: Vaccinium stamineum (a form with large leaves), V. corym- 

 bosum, V. arboreum, and a small species that seems most like 

 V. vacillans. A tree commonly present, but fruiting little, and 

 apparently of vanishing importance, as Dr. Mohr observes of it 

 in Alabama, is the chestnut (Castanea dentata). On high summits 

 another pine sometimes relieves the monotony of the common 



