The Audubon Societies 301 



NOTES FROM THE SOUTH 



On Sunday, July 13, 1913, I was fishing in Lake Centennial, part of the 

 Mississippi River. When the fish stopped biting, I persuaded my uncle to 

 row me over to De Soto island, which extends along the whole water front of 

 Vicksburg. 



This island is a bird paradise. We got off on a large raft, and back in the 

 Willows we could see Purple Crackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Swainson's 

 Warblers, and could hear Prothonotary and Parula Warblers. On the mud- 

 flats and in shallow ponds. White Ibises, Reddish Egrets, Creen Herons, and 

 Little Blue Herons without number were walking about in search of frogs and 

 fishes. 



I would have walked inland, but as the high water had just gone down, the 

 ground was too soft. I also saw a few Black-necked Stilts, Willets and Kill- 

 deer. Over the water, at least fifty pairs of Least Terns were seen flying about. 



Coing back, I had my back to the island, but my uncle, who was rowing, 

 was facing it. Suddenly, he told me to look around, and there was a Least 

 Tern, flying straight after the boat. When about six feet away, it turned, 

 flying so close by the boat that I could see that a fish it carried was a roach 

 minnow. — Maurice B. Emmich (aged 12), Vicksburg, Miss. 



[Another example of the treasures in store for the bird-lover in a 'limited area* 

 excursion. It may be possible that the Crackles seen were Boat-tailed rather than 

 Purple Crackles, and the Willets some other species of the large family of shore-birds, 

 but this does not make the observations of less value or interest. It takes sharp eyes 

 and long field-experience to know birds, and this boy's enthusiasm promises well for 

 an intimate acquaintance with nature. — A. H. W.] 



The Robin's Nest 



About two weeks ago, I saw a Robin building a nest made of mud and 

 dead grasses. It made its nest near my house in a sugar maple tree. It sat 

 there for two or three weeks on the bluish green eggs, until the baby Robins 

 came out of the little eggs. They looked like the mother and father birds, 

 with brown spots on their breasts. When they are learning to fly, the father 

 bird flies under them; so, when they fall, they fall, not on the ground, but 

 on the father's back. — Margaret Moore (aged 8, Third grade), St. Clair, 

 Mich. 



[This brief letter contains personal observations in every sentence and is especially 

 commendable for the variety of these observations. The material from which the nest 

 was made, the location, approximate time of incubation, plumage of the nestling young, 

 and initial flight of the nestlings are mentioned. What near relatives of the Robin 

 always have spotted breasts? How does a nesthng Bluebird look? Is the statement 

 about the flight of the young strictly correct? — A. H. W.j 



