BY ROBERT RIDGWAY.
Monteur’s Pond, situated about ten miles east of Vincennes and two miles west of the village of Wheatland, on the O. & M. R. R., is of considerable extent, being about nine miles long by a mile in average width. It is rather a swamp, however, than a pond, probably less than half its area being open water, the remainder filled with trees, chiefly willows (Salix nigra) averaging 50–60 feet high, mixed in places with a larger growth, chiefly ashes (Fraxinus americana, F. sambucifolia and F. pubescens), red maple, and swamp cottonwood (Populus heterophylla), the latter chiefly around the margin of the pond, where grow also swamp, white, and water oaks, sweet-gums, and an occasional catalpa (C. speciosa). The surrounding country, where not cleared, consists chiefly of original forest of various oaks and hickories, “poplar” (Liriodendron), beech, elm, and other trees in great variety, coniferous species being wholly absent.
The pond is never very deep, probably nowhere or at anytime exceeding four feet, and in seasons of drouth becomes absolutely dry, then forming an excellent pasturage for the stock of the neighboring farmers. Even when filled with water, the latter is, in the season of vegetable growth, entirely hidden by a luxuriant growth of aquatic plants, rendering the passage of a boat, of any description, impossible, while numerous muskrat holes and the intricate submerged stems render wading difficult and fatiguing in the extreme. For these reasons the pond was but slightly explored, while it was wholly neglected after the use of a boat became out of the question. I am therefore quite ignorant as to what species may have been breeding in the recesses of the pond, my investigations having been wholly confined to the surrounding fields and woodland, the northern portion of the pond and its immediate vicinity having been the scene of my ornithological investigations from April 15 to May 27.
Notwithstanding the very unusual lateness of the season I found on my arrival (April 15) that many of the migratory birds had preceded me, but subsequent arrivals were carefully noted up to May 6, and are presented herewith.
April 15. Prairie Warbler (Dendrœca discolor).
April 17. Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendrœca dominica albilora), Yellow-throated Vireo (Lanivireo flavifrons), Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus).
April 18. Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), Canada Flycatching Warbler (Myiodioctes canadensis), Blue Yellow-backed Warbler (Parula americana), Scarlet Tanager (Pyranga rubra), Summer Redbird (P. æstiva), Lark Finch (Chondestes grammica), Summer Yellowbird (Dendrœca æstiva), Maryland Yellow-throat (Geothlypis trichas), White-eyed Vireo (V. noveboracensis), Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendrœca virens), Indigo Bird (Passerina cyanea).
April 19. Great-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), Kingbird (Tyrannus carolinensis), Catbird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis), Pine-creeping Warbler (Dendrœca pinus).
April 20. Golden-crowned Thrush (Siurus auricapillus), Kentucky Warbler (Oporornis formosa).
April 21. Red-eye Vireo (Vireosylvia olivacea), Tawny Thrush (Hylocichla fuscescens).