THE ATLANTIC FOREST REGION 385 



The question naturally arises — When the region was one unbroken 

 forest, as in aboriginal times, where were the birds that to-day are 

 found only in our fields? Two answers appear possible to this ques- 

 tion. There may have been a radical change in the habits of these 

 birds since the first clearing of the land, or they may have come from 

 the western prairie region. This latter view, is, I think, the more 

 probable from the fact that all of the above-mentioned birds are found 

 throughout the prairies and on the Great Plains, or are represented 

 there by varieties which differ only in slight shades of color. The 

 three sparrows are widely distributed over the country, though the 

 savanna sparrow in its choice of localities is not so entirely an upland 

 bird as are the other two species, haunting marshes along the coasts and 

 river valleys as well as the higher open country. The familiar meadow 

 lark of our eastern fields is abundant throughout the prairie region and 

 is replaced on the drier western plains by a closely related form. The 

 cowbird is another species that is widely spread over the continent and 

 its habit of associating with cattle for the purpose of feeding upon the 

 flies that swarm about them suggests the question — whether this habit 

 was acquired since the settlement of the country, or did these birds 

 haunt the bison herds on the plains and begin to straggle eastward 

 after the cattle were introduced. The bobolink may have been a bird 

 of the river marshes throughout the Atlantic region long before the 

 discoverer set foot upon these shores, though from its wide range over 

 the interior valleys and prairie lands we might infer that it had come 

 east after the opening of the country. Similar conclusions could be 

 adduced concerning the red-winged blackbird, but it is a bird more of 

 marshland than of upland fields. Certain shore birds seem also to have 

 taken advantage of the clearing of the country, as the killdeer and the 

 grass plover, both being frequenters of plowed and fallow land. 



A remarkably interesting case is that of the black-throated bunting 

 or dicksissel. This bird is an abundant species in the glasslands of 

 the middle prairie region. In the time of the ornithologist Wilson, 

 and as late as the year 1880, it was not uncommon in certain localities 

 in the east. Since this latter date it seems to have entirely disappeared 

 from the Atlantic seaboard. For several years previous to that time 

 I knew of a few pairs of these birds which nested each spring in certain 

 fields of timothy and clover in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Their 

 disappearance from these localities was remarkably sudden and appar- 

 ently without reason, unless, as was suggested, it was due to the mowing 

 of the fields and the destruction of nests and young birds. The evi- 

 dence seems clear, however, that a part of the dicksissel population 

 spread early into the newly opened fields of the east and abandoned 

 them later, returning to their original prairie home. 



In old, settled lands, as in England and the countries of western 

 Europe, bird life has in large measure adapted itself to the human 



