162 
EIGHTH REPORT. 
A STUDY OF THE BIRDS OF THE OVERFLOW, EAST OF ANN 
ARBOR, MICH. 
R. A. BROWN, M. D. 
(From the University Museum, University of Michigan.) 
Within the past few years ornithologists have begun to realize the 
value of locality studies of birds, and such lists have been published 
in various journals. These studies bring us into the closest touch with 
the birds, for we have a chance to study their home life, and from a 
number of such lists we are able to learn the relation between the 
characteristic habits and the environment. For instance, if we go out 
into the field today in search of our common Flicker we naturally seek 
some lightly wooded spot and expect to hear its familiar call from the 
side of some dead tree or stub, but let us go west to the plains, where 
one scarcely sees a tree, and we find this same bird hopping about upon 
the ground, and building its nest in burrows and even flat upon the 
ground, all due to changes in the environment. 
During four years at Ann Arbor I spent much of my spare time in 
the field, and, as usually is the case, one particular locality appealed to 
me as the best spot for making observations. That place was a tract 
covering in a rough way an area about three-fourths of a mile long by a 
half mile in width, situated along the south bank of the Huron River, 
and about three miles east of the city of Ann Arbor. This place is com¬ 
monly divided into two parts by local ornithologists and is spoken of 
as Blake’s Farm and the “Overflow;” but I have grouped it all under 
one heading and called it “The Overflow.” 
The Overflow is an ideal spot for bird study, because within its 
bounds are found conditions suitable for nearly all classes of birds, as 
will be understood by the following brief description. Flowing along 
the northern boundary is the Huron River, whose south bank along the 
western half rises from a few to about ten or fifteen feet, as a bank 
upon which are found willows, elders and a few elm and maple trees. 
Toward the eastern limits the ridge gives way to a low flat field ending 
in a marshy area a few acres in extent. A ridge along the western por¬ 
tion, at one place, separates the river from a small marshy pond of some 
four or five acres in extent, which is surrounded by a thick growth 
of willows and elders. This growth also extends out from the shore 
and leaves but a small area of open water; a home for many water lov¬ 
ing birds. A railroad and a wagon road bounds this pond on the south, 
while beyond the road, and occupying the larger half of the western 
part of the Overflow, is Blake’s farm. This farm has along its western 
side, back from the road, a cultivated field, east of which is a small 
orchard and farm buildings. Then come two more fields, more or less 
rolling, back of which, on the western side, runs a long orchard of apple 
and peach trees, extending through to the southern boundary of the ter- 
