THE OOUOQIST 



NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN 

 LOWNDES COUNTY, ALABAMA 



On a morning in May, 1920, between 

 7 a. m. and 9 a. m., I observed twenty- 

 three species of birds in the grove in 

 front of the Iiome at which I was a 

 guest. During the morning, prior to 

 12 noon, I observed two more species 



Tlie trees in this grove are: willow 

 oak, water oak, post oak, and what is 

 locally known as white oak, (though 

 it is not the true white oak), locust, 

 magnolia, crepe myrtle, elm, cedar, 

 chinaberry, mock orange, and the bear- 

 ing and non-bearing mulberry. In ad- 

 dition there are two Virginia creeper 

 vines and one large wistaria vine 

 which covers nearly 100 feet of one 

 corner of the yard. There are less 

 than two acres in the space enclosed 

 in which these trees are located. To 

 the right of the yard in front of the 

 house is an orchard containing the or- 

 dinary Southern fruit trees such as 

 apple, (two or three varieties), peach, 

 plum, pear, and cherry. The vege- 

 table garden is located to the south of 

 this. 



The home is about one-half mile from 

 the Pintlala Creek, in the extreme 

 northern part of Lowndes County and 

 is in the corner of a large plantation 

 of about 2,000 acres which is for the 

 most part of the typical Black Belt 

 character, devoted to stock raising. 



Except along the creek and on some 

 of the rolling elevations there are few 

 trees on the plantation. 



The birds noted were: 



Mocking Bird, several nests in the 

 neighborhood. 



Brown Thrasher, nesting in the cor- 

 ner of the yard. 



Shrike, nesting in the orchard. 



Blue Bird, several birds seen, 

 though did not iind nest. 



Song Sparrow, several birds seen. 



Chimney Swift, had nested in the 

 residence chimney. 



Swallow, not positively identified, 

 either Tree Swallow or Rough-winged. 



Cardinal, nesting in plum thicket 

 south of vegetable garden. 



Redhead Woodpecker, several seen. 



Cat-bird, two seen 



Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker, three 

 birds seen. 



Purple Martin, one bird seen. 



Blue Jay, nesting in grove. 



English Sparrow, only two or three 

 pairs noted during two days spent at 

 the home. Not thought to be nesting 

 there. 



Baltimore Oriole, two birds seen. 



Brown Creeper, noted several times, 

 possibly same bird. 



Black Vulture atid Turkey Buzzard, 

 both noted flying from adjoining plan- 

 tation fields. 



Yellow Billed Cuckoo, one bird 

 seen. 



Yellow Warbler, three birds seen. 



Hooded Warbler, two birds seen 



House Wren, quite common about 

 the residence. 



Kingbird, two birds seen. 



Yellow Throated Vireo, (?) identifi- 

 cation not positive. 



Meadow Lark, several seen in orch- 

 ard. 



I was very much interested in the 

 extreme freedom with which the 

 Warblers, Vireo and Creeper as well 

 as one bird which I thought to be a 

 Ply Catcher, inhabited the neighbor- 

 hood. 



They are never molested in their 

 frequency of the premises, the people 

 living there being quite interested in 

 birds. However, no effort has es- 

 pecially been made to encourage them, 

 except that during the winter months 

 they are allowed to feed with the 

 chickens, when chops and cracked 

 food are scattered in the poultry yards. 

 They have noted for the past two 

 years that the English Sparrow has 

 been perceptibly noticeable by his ab- 

 sence. 



