NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SWAINSON'S WARBLER 27 



Figure 9. — Canebrake along the edge of the Ocmulgee River, about 3 miles 

 south of Macon, Bibb County, Ga., 1968. 



often associated with sweet pepperbush where the Swainson*s 

 Warbler is found. 



The canebrake is the prime and classic habitat of the Swain- 

 son's Warbler on the Coastal Plain. This habitat has mostly dis- 

 appeared, having been reclaimed for agriculture, or grazed, 

 burned, or flooded out of existence. Canebrakes are restricted 

 mostly to floodplain forests or hardwood bottoms. In the lower 

 Mississippi River Valley they occur on first bottom ridges, which 

 are well-drained areas; whereas on the South Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain they occur along the river and stream edges in floodplain 

 forests where there is little change in elevation from the river to 

 the edge of the uplands. Thus, they are subject to partial inunda- 

 tion during periods when the bottomlands are flooded. 



Scrub palmetto occurs in floodplain forests and swamps in the 

 southern part of the Coastal Plain breeding range of the Swain- 

 son's Warbler. Sweet pepperbush is an important plant for the 

 Swainson's Warbler in the northern part of its Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain breeding range. This was the principal habitat in which I 

 found it in the Great Dismal Swamp of southeastern Virginia and 

 the Pocomoke Swamp on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In some 

 places, sweet pepperbush stalks have a somewhat canebrakelike 

 aspect, the main stems growing fairly straight, with similar 

 spacing or density and shade effect. 



