86 



tHE bOLOQISt 



ALONG THE MASON DIXON LINE 



After collecting marshes, on the 

 prairies, and among nesting colonies 

 in Harney Valley, Devil's Lake, North- 

 ern Minnesota, Florida East Coast, and 

 the Great Lake regions, one finds a 

 great contrast concerning bird life 

 among the knobs, woodlands and 

 brush patches of Southern Indiana and 

 Northern Kentucky. 



Had I devoted as much time to the 

 timbered sections of Illinois and In- 

 diana, as I put in during May and June 

 of 1921 about Louisville, Ky., no doubt 

 I would have discovered a greater va- 

 riety of nesting species in the lower 

 Lake Michigan section. 



About Louisville the most common 

 birds are Robins, Meadowlarks, Bronze 

 Grackles, Red-Bye Vireo, Towhee, 

 Crow, Field Sparrow, Chipping Spar- 

 row, Cardinal, Catbird, Brown Thrash- 

 er, Wood Thrush, Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker and Chimney Swift. 



Other familiar varieties are: Gold- 

 finch, Downey Woodpecker, Wood 

 Pewee, Blue Jay, Blue Bird, Chickadee, 

 Indigo Bunting, Maryland Yellow 

 Throat, Yellow Breasted Chat, Sum- 

 mer Tanager, Tufted Titmouse, Kill- 

 deer, Quail, Turkey Vulture, Crested 

 Flycatcher, Green Heron, Mourning 

 Dove, Red Winged Blackbird and 

 White Eyed Vireo. 



The following are found in limited 

 numbers: Kentucky Warbler, Ruby 

 throated Hummingbird, Blue Gray 

 Gnatcatcher, Kingbird, Kingfisher, 

 Grasshopper Sparrow, Purple Martin, 

 Bewick's Wren, Warbling Vireo, Spar- 

 row Hawk, Mourning Warbler, Song 

 Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, Cedar Wax- 

 wing, Cow Bird, Cooper's Hawk, Wood- 

 cock, Phoebe, Whip-poor-will, Night- 

 ha'wk. Barn Swallow and Orchard 

 Orioles. 



Although some swampy tracts of 

 limited area were visited, there was no 

 evidence of Rails, Bitterns, and Bobo- 



links. House and Marsh Wrens, Ves- 

 per, Savannah and Lark Sparrows, 

 Dickcissels, Spotted Sandpipers, Bank 

 Swallows, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, 

 Prairie Horned Larks, Upland Plovers, 

 Prothonotarys, Warblers, R u ff e d 

 Grouse, Marsh Hawk, House and Caro- 

 lina Wrens, Pied Bill Grebes, Coot, 

 Gallimule, Red-bellied Woodpecker, 

 Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanagers, 

 Mockingbirds, and Louisiana Water 

 Thrush were never observed. 



Many birds may be recorded as com- 

 mon simply because their chosen en- 

 vironment existed in abundance. For 

 instance, one strip of woods may have 

 its pair of Hummingbirds, Cardinals or 

 Chats, and one might feel competent 

 of finding such varieties in every 

 clump of woods visited. Nevertheless, 

 it is no easier to locate the nest of one 

 of these species where tracts of wood- 

 land occur three or four times as fre- 

 quently as they exist in areas which 

 have been almost, if not entirely de- 

 nuded of their virgin timber. 



Another obstacle which is very 

 troublesome during Kentucky travel- 

 ing is the immense amount of briers 

 and thorny patches which the ornithol- 

 ogist encounters. Insects such as 

 gnats, mosquitoes, wood-ticks, are not 

 as pestiferous as I have found them 

 in other parts of the country. 



The average rural inhabitant is 

 hospitable and does not oppose your 

 invasion of his premises. Kentucky 

 ranks fourth from the last in its pro- 

 portion of illiterate people, and if the 

 negroes were eliminated the propor- 

 tion of illiterates would be consider- 

 ably larger. The black who owns his 

 small track of land, cultivates it, has 

 desirable credit and reputation for pay- 

 ment of his account, and gives his off- 

 spring the benefit of public school edu- 

 cation. In remote sections of the 

 state many whites are unable to read 

 or write. This applies to any one of 

 the three generations. 



