Brown on Birds observed at Coosada, Alabama. 1G9 



numerous parasitical vines. Within two miles of the railway 

 station runs the Alabama River, affording, with its parent streams, 

 the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and its tributary creeks and "branches," 

 the most productive country for the ornithologist. 



The following list embodies the results of my observations at 

 Coosada, between the dates of January 21 and April 30, 1878, 

 ■with the hearty and efficient co-operation of Mr. J. H. Bond, of 

 Portland, during the first nine w'eeks of my stay. It has not been 

 prepared with a view to presenting a complete catalogue of the 

 birds inhabiting even the limited extent of country under consider- 

 ation. Such was the remarkable lateness of the migration, that 

 additional species were detected up to the very day of my depart- 

 ure, and I have no doubt that others subsequently made their 

 appearance. Whether further investigations in the locality would 

 prove the occurrence there of such missing members of the supposi- 

 tive local fauna as Cyanoqoiza cirb, Helviitherns vermivorus, Ilehnin- 

 thopliaga pinus, etc., is, therefore, to some extent a matter of doubt. 



1. Turdus migratorius, L. Robin. — An abundant winter visitor, 

 becoming unconnaon towards the nuddle of April, and disappearing be- 

 fore the end of that month. The males were songless during their stay. 



2. Turdus mustelinus, Gm. Wood Thrush. — Arrived April 13 

 in full song. They were never very common, inhabited only swampy 

 thickets and hard-wood groves, and were extremely shy. 



3. Turdus pallasi, Cab. Hermit Thrush. — Common and generally 

 distributed up to within a few days of my departure. I was surprised, in 

 this southern latitude, to find that the males became musical as spring 

 advanced. On March 16 I heard the first song, and during the following 

 three weeks it was one of the commonest wood sounds. 



4. Mimus polyglottus, (L.) Boie. Mocking-bird. — Abundant resi- 

 dent. I heard the first song February 25, — a week after the birds began 

 to sing in Montgomery. Two weeks later I observed several pairs desul- 

 torily at work on their nests, but, with the exception of a single comple- 

 ment found on the 12th of April, discovered no eggs until about K\>v\\ 21. 



After a brief sojourn at Coosada, I came to regard this bird with intense 

 dislike, on account of its extreme quarrelsomeness. Those in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of my lodgings were almost constantly employed in driving 

 other birds from the neighborhood. Upon one occasion, a Robin sitting 

 quietly in a tree over my head was so fiercely attacked by a Mocking-bird 

 that he fell almost lifeless at my feet. A friend rescued him from further 

 injury, and after the bird revived gave him his liberty ; he had scarcely 

 flown a dozen yards, however, before he was again savagely set upon by a 

 Mocking-bird, and escaped only through his greater power of wing. 



VOL. III. 12 



