422 NOTES ON THE 
the range of numbers, and they are somewhat variable in the 
intensity of the color between light ash and brown, being so 
thickly blotched as to give it those colors, although the general 
hue without the blotching would be white. Their song is a 
poor representative of bird-melody, consisting of little more 
than an indistinct rasping, or grating sounds, not unlike the 
sound of a sliver on a fence rail vibrating in the wind. They 
feed principally upon tiny mollusks, and aquatic insects of 
various kinds. 
Itis a very difficult matter to find just the time when they 
habitually return to the South, but I think that as a general 
thing it is by the 1st to the 5th of September, with occasional 
exceptions in either direction. 
My collector Mr. F. L. Washburn, who visited the valley of 
the Red river in the interests of the survey, found this species 
like the other, abundant, breeding in large colonies. He calls 
it ‘‘a noisy chatterer, pre-eminently inquisitive; and as nimble 
as amouse. Standing among reeds, up to my waist in water, 
and watching the movements of a flock of ducks several yards 
in front of me, the noise of my movements attracted about me 
countless numbers of these birds. Chattering angrily at my 
intrusion, they came toward me from every side, scrambling 
from reed to reed. head downward and peering at me with the 
brightest of black eyes, seeming to demand of me by what 
right I had tresspassed on the lawful territory of the Lilli- 
putians. Its song is monotonous and squeaky.” 
Mr. J. M. Holzinger, Curator of the Normal School Museum, 
at Winona, says it is ‘‘abundant around Lake Winona.” That 
it is generally distributed over the entire State there can be no 
doubt. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
- Bill about as long as head; tail and wing nearly equal. 
Upper parts dull reddish-brown, except on the crown, inter- 
scapular region, outer surface of tertials, and tail feathers, 
which are almost black; the first with a median patch like the 
grouud color, the second with short streaks of white extending 
round on the sides of the neck; the third indented with brown; 
the fourth barred with whitish, decreasing in amount from the 
outer feather, which is marked from the base to the fifth, 
where it is confined to the tips; the two middle feathers like 
the back, and barred throughout with dusky. Beneath rather 
pure white, the sides and under tail coverts of a lighter shade 
of brown than the back; a white streak over the eye 
Length, 5.50; wing, 2.08; tail, 2. 
Habitat, United States, abundant in reedy swamps. 
