Galeoscoptes carolinensis (Linn.), Catbird, common, breeds.
Cistothorus palustris (Wils.). Long-billed Marsh Wren, very common, breeds.
Parus atricapillus (Linn.). Chickadee.
Merula migratoria (Linn.). American Robin, only one pair, seen only once.
Many birds common in most localities are conspicuous by their absence. The blue jay, crow, thrushes, most of the birds of prey, and the woodpeckers, and many of the sparrows, especially the ubiquitous English sparrow, were not observed at all. But the species occurring are present in great numbers, so that the region may be said to be monotonous in its bird life as well as in its other ecological relations.
PLANT STUDY AT SANDUSKY BAY.
Harriet G. Burr.
To one whose work has not included collecting and study in such surroundings as Sandusky Bay affords, the revelation of even a few days here is worth a great deal. The marshes about Sandusky, the rocky islands, the sand dunes at Cedar Point, the “prairie” in the direction of Castalia, all offer valuable work to the student of ecology.
But during the week spent at the Lake Laboratory last August it was in study of the water plants of the Bay that I found the greatest interest. The collecting is after a manner novel to the “land lubber.” The collections, carried back to the Laboratory for study, have the fascination of the unusual, for represented among them are families more or less unfamiliar to general students.
A collecting trip for water-plants usually takes one across the Bay among the bulrushes and wild rice along Cedar Point. Here from the sides of the boat we look down into a wilderness of strange forms through the clear water. The curious eel-grass, with its perfect spirals, Myriophyllum and Chara, Philotria, Utricularia, and the Potamogetons spread out upon the surface among the lily-pads around us, are among the most conspicuous. A few minutes collecting here is productive of results quite out of proportion to the time spent. Many of these plants, at the time of my visit, had lifted themselves to the surface and bore their inflorescence above the water. Among these were some of the Potamogetons, Utricularia, Philotria, and others. A marigold looked strangely out of place on the surface of the water—it was the Bidens Beckii in bloom. The American Lotus lifted its head conspicuously above its lesser neighbors. Some minute, light-colored, fluffy masses, floating far out in the Bay, we decided to be the pollen of the Vallisneria.