BIRDS OF NEW YORK 25 



I noticed only Spotted sandpiper, Killdeer, Savannah sparrow, Song 

 sparrow, Vesper sparrow, Horned lark and Meadowlark. 



On a hillside overlooking Canandaigua lake I noticed a definite change 

 brought about by the cutting off of woodland and the resultant growth 

 of dense thicket six to twelve feet in height. In this woodland there had 

 been the usual bird community of that region, especially Wood thrush, 

 Red-eyed vireo, Scarlet tanager, Crested flycatcher, Redstart and Oven-, 

 bird. Two years after the cutting of the taller trees the thicket was 

 occupied by Brown thrashers, catbirds, Chestnut-sided warbler, Yellow- 

 breasted chat, Field sparrow and Indigo bird. 



I am aware that most of these successions are more or less unnatural ; 

 but all of them do occur at times in nature, though more slowly, and what 

 we are at present concerned with is the line of succession which is likely 

 to occur as a result of conditions now obtaining in the State. 



THE BIRDS OF POTTER SWAMP 



To give bird students a basis for future comparison as well as to 

 illustrate the exact nature of swamp bird life in central New York, and 

 the rapid changes brought about by clearing woodland, we could select 

 no better bit of territory than Potter swamp which lies in Yates county, 

 between the villages of Potter and Gorham. The upper part of this swamp 

 has been carefully studied by Messrs Verdi Burtch and Clarence F. Stone 

 of Branchport, N. Y., and an estimate made of the number of breeding 

 birds of the various species inhabiting the swamp. This portion of the 

 swamp occupies about two square miles of moist and wet woodland along 

 the course of Flint creek. The tree growth is mostly deciduous, consisting 

 of red and white maple, white elm and ash, interspersed with " islands " 

 of white pine and hemlock, and thickets of Arbor vitae. In most places, 

 especially where the larger trees have been cut down by recent lumbering 

 operations, there is a dense growth of underbrush, consisting of sprouts 

 and saplings of the species mentioned and various swamp shrubs like spice 

 bush, winterberry, alder, willow and a great variety of herbs, ferns, grasses 



