894 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



in force before any of the chance migrants are seen farther south. At 

 Brookville it is only seen occasionally, as it passes over or stops beside 

 the river., perhaps, some days, after it has appeared about the northern 

 swamps. In the Whitewater Valley and, in fact, throughout southern 

 Indiana, generally, there are few localities favorable to it; so that a 



Red-winged Blackbird. 

 (Beal. Farmer's Bulletin 54, United States Department of Agriculture, p. 20.) 



fish pond containing a few cat-tails, a sedgy shallow in the old canal 

 bed, or a bit of wet land, the remnants of an old marsh or beaver pond, 

 afford about the only nesting sites. In the northern part of the State, 

 where the marshes and marshy lakes are found, they are found in 

 flocks numbering thousands. 



They may be observed, on first arrival, in the southern part of the 

 State, some time from January to March; and among the northern 

 marshes, from February 17 to March 28. The following dates are 

 the earliest and latest it was first seen at the points named: Brook- 

 ville, February 21, 1888 and 1892, March 25, 1897; Frankfort, Feb- 

 ruary 28, 1896, April 6, 1893; Dekalb County, February 17, 1897, 

 February 22, 1886 and 1888; Lake County, March 11, 1893; Cook 

 County, 111., March 20, 1886, March 28, 1885; Carroll County, Feb- 

 ruary 12 (Evermann). Its call is one of the characteristic sounds 

 of the marshes, Emerson says it calls "o-ka-lee" Nehrling gives 



