14 HEY AU DSU BSO Nev BUT ee, 
coons is kept normal and the government profits from the annual trapping 
of the excess. There are few skunks in the area, as they dislike floodplains. 
A variety of habitats exist here for birds: the White River itself, small 
bays and ponds leading from the river, isolated pools, open woods, shrubby 
growths, and the deep recesses of the forests. In the forests we heard red- 
eyed vireos, Carolina wrens, the wheezy notes of the blue-gray gnatcatcher, 
red-bellied woodpeckers, prothonotary warblers, the bell-like song of the 
wood thrush, Carolina chickadees, and pileated woodpeckers. I stepped out 
of the woods onto the river bank at one spot to see 50 black vultures and at 
least 30 turkey vultures leave their perches in tree tops on the opposite 
shore and flap slowly about in circles before settling down again a little 
farther up the river. At a stagnant pool on the edge of the forest I came 
across three solitary sandpipers probing in the mud near several killdeer. 
True to its name, here was this species frequenting solitary places in the 
wooded wilderness, where other sandpipers seldom or never appear. Ameri- 
can egrets fished with patience and unsurpassed alertness on the shallow 
banks of the White River, often in the company of immature little blue 
herons. These two all-white birds standing side-by-side required close in- 
spection to tell them apart, although the larger size of the egret was usually 
evident even at a distance. Through the binoculars the yellow bill of the 
egret separated it clearly from the little blue, whose bill is greenish-black. 
Although there were lots of young little blue herons, I did not see an adult 
bird in the darker plumage. It has always been a puzzle to me why young 
birds of this species are observed so much more often than the mature 
birds. Doubtless the young’s color is more striking, but percentage would 
say that there are as many or more adults than young in existence, and we 
should see them almost as frequently at least. Yet most ornithologists will 
tell you this is not true in the case of the little blue heron. 
(Miss Johnston’s interesting account of her five weeks of study in the 
southern and southeastern states will be continued in the next number of 
the Bulletin.) 
Berwyn, Illinois. 
Et fl fl 
The Springfield May Census 
By CoRA CLARKE MCELROY 
WHEN THE CARD CAME from the Chicago Ornithological Society announcing 
the plans for the annual field trip to Waukegan, a wave of nostalgic 
memories of those trips during the past ten years swept over me. I knew 
I should be in the field about Springfield all day, participating in the May 
census, but since the high spots of the many former years seemed blended 
in my memory into one vivid experience, the anticipated day here promised 
to be drab by contrast. I recalled the excitement of meeting friends on the 
Elevated platform at Adams and Wabash, and the crowd to greet us at 
Waukegan; or perhaps the long beautiful drive from the South Side with 
other friends in their car. While the leaders at Waukegan were organizing 
