IS.] Chapman on Birds observed at Gainesville, Florida. 267 



A LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT GAINESVILLE, 

 FLORIDA. 



BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Gainesville is situated in the southeastern part of Ahichua 

 County, midway between the Gulf and the Atlantic, a position 

 which, during the winter, proved excellent collecting ground for the 

 species which should occur there at that season, but the distance 

 from either coast rendered it a comparatively isolated point dur- 

 ing migration. 



Evidently the peninsula acts as a wedge dividing into two 

 w^aves, which flow up either coast, the sea of north-bound mi- 

 grants ; from these waves small streams of summer residents 

 penetrate the interior in search of breeding places, and these, in 

 addition to occasional ripples caused perhaps by a high-tide, 

 constitute the entire migration. 



How closely migrating birds adhere to the coast is well illus- 

 trated by the fact that of the thirty-five arrivals noted, twenty-six 

 are summer residents of the Louisianian Fauna, leaving but nine 

 strictly transient birds as the number observed, where forty or 

 more might have occurred. The capture of four species which 

 have not, to my knowledge, been before recorded from Florida 

 during the winter, may also be due to this inland position ; for 

 these birds probably drifted in with flocks of true winter resi- 

 dents, and being thus removed from the coast currents, were 

 left stranded. The country surrounding Gainesville is favorable 

 for occupation by all the species which should occur there, 

 there being, 'black-jack' and palmetto pineries, hummocks, 

 thickets, clearings, swamps, 'prairies,' numerous small ponds 

 and streams, and Alachua Lake, about nine miles long and aver- 

 aging two or more in width. This lake, as the chief ornitho- 

 logical point of interest, deserves particular mention ; a large 

 portion of its surfiice is covered witli a dense growth of yellow 

 pond lilies {Nuphar advena)^ locally known as 'bonnets,' aflbrd- 

 ing a home to innumerable Coots {Fulica americana) and Ducks. 

 At its eastern end is an immense savanna bisected by an inflow- 

 ing creek, and dotted with clumps of cypresses and numberless 

 small pools. A few years ago Herons were abundant and bred 



