Zoological Miscellany. 



89 



ZOOLOGICAL MISCELLAXY* 



.4 DAT IN A LOUISIANA SWAMP. 



Words fail to express the sensations experienced by a northern nat- 

 uralist, on entering for the first time, the Sugar District of Louisiana. 

 While the monotonous landscape of this section, with its never-varying 

 fringe of moss-hung cypress limiting the view in all directions, is but 

 slightly attractive from an artistic standpoint, to the naturalist even 

 the very monoton}' is unique in character ; while he can not fail to be 

 impressed by the peculiarities of climate, the sub-tropical character of 

 the fauna and flora, and the evidences existing on ever}- side of that 

 long continued conflict between land and water, to which is due such 

 vast accessions to our southern border in ages past; a conflict still 

 waging as persistently and silently as ever, and gradually converting 

 the Mexican Gulf into an inland sea. 



Strolling quietly along on a clear April morning, through the highly 

 cultlvated grounds of a sugar plantation in the Parish of West Baton 

 Rouge, our ears are saluted by the full, clear notes of the Cardinal 

 Grosbeak, whose brilliant plumage glows like a live coal in the dark 

 recesses of a hedge of Cherokee Rose ; from the top of a tall weed sway- 

 ing in the breeze, the rainbow-hued Nonpariel Finch sings a pleasing 

 ditty to his plainly-colored mate in the brier-patch below ; whilst the 

 many-tongued Mocker pours out his matchless wealth of song from the 

 topmost bough of a China -berry tree. 



A startled Crow peers up at us over the edge of a neighboring ditch 

 bank, where lie is seeking the crayfish which form a considerable 

 portion of his diet in this region, and uttering harsh protests against 

 our intrusion at his breakfast cable, betakes himself to more distant 

 poaching grounds. 



High overhead a pair of Red-tailed Hawks are passing in inter- 

 locking circles, making the ambient air resound with piercing screams; 

 while afar oft' in the azure distance a circling band of Turke} T Vultures 

 and Carrion Crows mark the course of that artery of a continent — the 

 Mississippi. 



These are only a few of the sights and sounds which divert our atten- 



* Edited by Dr. F. W. Langdon 

 Communications intended for this department should be addressed to the Editor Con- 

 tributors will please write legibly, and on one side only of the paper, leaving an inch of 

 margin on the left. 



