VOl i9oF V ] Kopman, Bird Distribution. 171 



(Comus stricta), red maple, box elder, sweet gum, red, live, and 

 water oaks, hackberry, Cottonwood, and sycamore constitute the 

 bulk of the sylva. Maple, elm, tupelo, and water oaks prepond- 

 erate, growing very closely, and exhibiting great vigor, though the 

 size of the elms and maples especially is not usually large. In 

 these moist shady woods, the character of insect life that particu- 

 larly attracts our smaller insectivorous birds is sparingly repre- 

 sented. There is a rather oppressive and monotonous side to the 

 life here, which is reflected more or less closely in the behavior of 

 the birds. The conditions being almost identical in all spots, and 

 food being equally abundant everywhere, the stations of nesters 

 are distributed with decided regularity. A tendency to colonize in 

 the breeding season is of the rarest occurrence. The same condi- 

 tions that render colonization unnecessary, that is, the uniformity 

 of the environment, frequently give rise to rather wide ranging on 

 tHe part of nesters. The preoccupation of the breeding bird is less 

 conspicuous than usual, and intimate acquaintance with their 

 home life more difficult to arrive at. As a matter of fact, these 

 virgin lowland woods do not always serve for nesting haunts of the 

 several species that frequent them in greater or less abundance. 

 Where these forests border on cleared land, lower and more varied 

 growths appear, and such spots frequently become meeting places 

 of the woodland breeders and the more open-loving species. For- 

 ests without any undergrowth whatever attract practically no small 

 species as breeders except the Woodpeckers, the Crested Flycatcher, 

 Green-crested Flycatcher, Cardinal, Summer Tanager (?), Red- 

 eyed Vireo, Parula Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Sycamore 

 Warbler; the Parula Warbler nests in such woods wherever Span- 

 ish moss occurs, the same being true of the Sycamore Warbler, 

 while the Prothonotary Warbler selects its usual sites, as do the 

 Titmice and Woodpeckers. The Flycatchers, Cardinal, Summer 

 Tanager, and Red-eyed Vireo necessarily nest high under these 

 circumstances. 



Although uninterrupted growths of forest trees of the kinds 

 already designated cover a large part of the surface of southeastern 

 Louisiana not in cultivation, there are also considerable areas 

 primarily occupied by lower, more thicket-like growths, consist- 

 ing of small maples, tupelos, etc., interspersed with palmetto, 



