i 34 BrK\vster aNd Chapman ofi Birds of the Sttivanee River. [April 



The marshes and small islands at the mouth of the river were 

 covered with a tall grass each blade of which ended in a very 

 sharp point or spine. Beneath the upright grass there was a 

 mat of dead grass representing probably the growth of pi^e- 

 vious years. This formed a dense mass a foot or more in 

 thickness and raised fifteen or twenty inches above the ground. 

 Beneath this mat the Rails had their runways from which it 

 was almost impossible to dislodge them. At intervals of fifteen 

 or twenty minutes one would call out when another would answer, 

 and then still another, until the call was taken up by dozens of 

 birds in succession. We did not observe that these outcries were 

 at all stimulated or excited by any sudden noise, such as the 

 report of a gun, as in the case with the Carolina Rail. After a 

 vain attempt to flush these birds by wading in the marshes, we 

 were obliged to resort to firing the islands in order to obtain 

 specimens. By lighting the grass at difierent points simultane- 

 ously we managed to start several fires of such extent that they 

 swept nearly the entire island over which they raged. The Rails, 

 as a rule, kept about one hundred yards ahead of the fire, showing 

 themselves now and then along the edges of the water and occa- 

 sionally taking short flights. They were very shy, howe\'er, and 

 seemed to fear us quite as much as they did the fire, for in se\- 

 eral cases they turned back the moment they discovered us. Some 

 of them escaped by long flights across the channels between 

 the islands. One bird flew directly out over the river and alighting 

 in deep water swam easily and swiftly like a Duck. Many birds 

 eluded us without showing themselves, keeping in the dense 

 green grass just back from the water's edge where the tide made 

 everything too wet for the fire to take eflect. 



We conclude this sketch of the avifiiuna of the region with 

 brief notes on the migration, technical remarks on several species, 

 and a nominal list of all the birds observed. 



The Migration on the Suwanee. 



During our stay on the river the migration of birds was marked 

 with unusual distinctness for the interior of Florida. A cold 

 wave on March 16-17 ^'^^^ '^'"^ evident eflect in checking the north- 

 wartl movement vvhicii was apparently well underway before we 

 started The presence in Florida as winter residents of many spe- 



