488 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



sula are surrounded by a dense growth of bushes, which encroach upon 

 the water to such an extent, that, even when the ponds are low, there 

 is no beach exposed. 



The vegetation of these various ponds and marshes is profuse indeed. 

 Along their edges is a rank growth of rushes (/uncus) , marsh grasses, 

 arrow-leaf {^Sagittaria), and cat-tail {Typha latifolia), giving way, in 

 deeper water, to pondweed \Potamogetoii), yellow water-lily (Nym- 

 phcea variegata), and others fully as characteristic. In Niagara, 

 Yellow Bass, and Graveyard Ponds wild rice {Zizania aquaticd) grows 

 in abundance, and accordingly these are the favorite haunts of coots, 

 rails, bitterns, and the like. The ducks would no doubt also relish 

 the wild rice, but as they can be so readily approached when feeding 

 among it, they soon learn that the more open ponds are safer, at least 

 in the daytime. In the drier portions there are extensive areas of 

 dense thicket, while the largest tracts of heavy timber are found on 

 the higher ridges west of Big Pond (Plate XVIII). The surface of 

 these ridges is very uneven, everywhere showing the peculiar sand-hill 

 formation. Oaks of several species constitute perhaps the bulk of the 

 forest, although there are considerable areas almost entirely given over 

 to white pines (Pinus Strobus) , the trees of which, although well de- 

 veloped, do not attain the height elsewhere observed. 



Erie Bay, constituting the harbor of the city of Erie, is about four 

 and one-half miles in length, with an average width of one and one- 

 half miles. The channel giving entrance from the lake opens into its 

 eastern end, between the pier at the Life-saving Station and the break- 

 water, built out from a point of land, known as the "sand-beach," 

 just east of the mouth of Mill Creek. This is a favorite spot for shore- 

 birds, as mentioned above. The shores of the bay are sandy for the 

 most part, but the beach is by no means so wide as that along the out- 

 side shore, and much of it is littered over with driftwood. West of 

 ' ' Big Bend, ' ' however, there are extensive marshy areas, and the 

 shallow water here is almost as good feeding-ground for the ' ' pond 

 ducks ' ' as the ponds themselves. Here also at times of low water are 

 extensive mud-flats, frequented by many species of waders. Except 

 these marshes and the Mill Creek flats, the shore of the bay has no 

 marsh or beach that would attract anything but a Spotted Sandpiper, 

 and the same may be said of the whole lake shore of Erie County, 

 exclusive, of course, of the Peninsula. The shallower parts of the bay 

 support a number of aquatic plants in considerable abundance, among 



