completes the list. Broadly speaking, this region comprises that part of
Asia which lies east of the Indus river south of the Himalaya mountains
except the eastern half of the drainage basin of the Yang-tse-kiang
river, reaching the coast just south of Shanghai, including the island
of Formosa, the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumatra and Ceylon. This is
the Oriental Region of Wallace. There are, apparently, but two families
of birds peculiar to this region: the bulbuls and the broad-bills; but
there are very many genera and species found nowhere else in the world.
The king-crows, sun-birds, swallow-shrikes, argus pheasant, jungle fowl
and the well-known peacocks belong here. Very many of the birds of this
region are gaudily colored and striking in appearance.
Each of these great regions, except possibly New Zealand, are readily
divisible into sub-regions, and these again into areas of lesser extent,
until each fauna may be assigned its proper place. Thus in the Holarctic
Region we recognize the Nearctic, which comprises about all of North
America, and a Palearctic sub-region, the outlines of which have already
been sketched. Within the Nearctic three minor regions are recognized.
The Arctic “includes that part of the continent and its adjacent islands
north of about the limit of forest vegetation” (Allen). That is, extreme
northern and northwestern Alaska, sweeping southeasterly through British
America to and including Hudson Bay, northern and northeastern Labrador
and northern Newfoundland. The Cold Temperate, which lies next south,
begins in the east near Quebec, then sweeps westward past the Great
Lakes almost to Winnipeg, thence in a northwesterly direction just west
of Lake Winnipeg; from there in a more westerly direction to the
mountains, which it follows even into northern Mexico as a narrow line;
from the west coast at the north end of Vancouver Island it runs east to
the mountains. Maine and Nova Scotia are a part of the Allegheny belt
which reaches to Alabama. Below this southern limit of the Cold
Temperate lies the Warm Temperate, extending almost to Central America.
But this is again subdivided into an eastern Humid Province which ends
at the Plains, and a western Arid Province. These are again subdivided
into an Appalachian Subprovince and an Austroriparian Subprovince for
the Humid Province, and a Sonoran and Campestrian Subprovince for the
Arid Province. But the boundaries of these minor subdivisions are not
yet definitely settled, nor are the characteristic species in each
finally decided upon, so it will not be profitable to carry our
investigation further at this time.
We learn from this that when we find that one region, be it large or
small, is unlike every other region in some particulars of climate or
vegetation or temperature, or when it is not easily accessible from
other regions, we may expect to find the animals somewhat different
according to the conditions which prevail. From this it is a clear step
to the truth that an animal’s environment exerts a considerable
influence upon its life and through its life upon its form; changing the
form in some particulars that make it different from all other animals.
It is also true of plants. Since, then, there are different physical
conditions in every country of any considerable size, these changes in
plants and animals are going on now, but so slowly that we are not able
to see them. At the end of another thousand years or longer, the species
of birds which we now know may be so changed that we should not know
them if we could see them. But that need not worry us!
Lynds Jones.
[Illustration: ]
THE HOODED WARBLER
(_Sylvania mitrata._)
“He was recognizable at once by the bright yellow hood he wore, bordered
all around with deep black. A bright, flitting blossom of the bird
world!”—_Leander S. Keyser, in Bird Land._
This beautiful little warbler is a resident of the eastern United
States. It is more common in the southern portion of this district and
throughout the Mississippi Valley. Its breeding range extends from the
Gulf of Mexico as far to the northward as southern Michigan. It winters
in the West Indies, in Mexico, and in Central America. Though a wood
warbler it prefers the shrubby growths in low and well-watered places
rather than the forest. It is said to be abundant among the canes of the
Southern States. Many other names have been given this warbler, all
having reference to the arrangement of the black and yellow colors on
the head. It is called the Black-headed Warbler, the Hooded Flycatching
Warbler, the Mitred Warbler, and the Black-cap Warbler.
Activity seems to be the keynote of its life. It is in constant pursuit
of insects, which it catches while they are on the wing. Unlike the
flycatchers it seldom returns to the same perch from which it flew to
catch its prey.
The words of Mr. Keyser most aptly describe the habits of the Hooded
Warbler. He says, speaking of an hour spent in observing the bird’s
behavior, “He was not in the least shy or nervous, but seemed rather to
court my presence. Almost every moment was spent in capturing insects on
the wing or in sitting on a perch watching for them to flash into view.
Like a genuine flycatcher, as soon as a buzzing insect hove in sight, he
would dart out after it, and never once failed to secure his prize.
Sometimes he would plunge swiftly downward after a gnat or miller, and
once, having caught a miller that was large and inclined to be
refractory, he flew to the ground, beat it awhile on the clods, and then
swallowed it with a consequential air which seemed to say, ‘That is my
way of disposing of such cases!’ Several times he mounted almost
straight up from his perch, and twice he almost turned a somersault in
pursuit of an insect. Once he clung like a titmouse to the hole of a
sapling.”
To some its notes, which are quite musical, lively, sweet and happy,
seem to resemble twee, twee, twitchie. Mr. Chapman says the song “is
subject to much variation, but as a rule consists of eight or nine
notes. To my ear the bird seems to say, ‘You must come to the woods, or
you won’t see me.’”
The nest of the Hooded Warbler is usually built in low shrubs, sometimes
but a few inches from the ground and seldom higher than two feet. It is
constructed of fine rootlets, and fibers of bark compactly interwoven
with leaves, fine grass and hair. It is lined with grass, hair and
feathers. The eggs, which are usually five in number, are white, or
nearly white, in color, with red or brownish spots near the larger end.
They are nearly three-fourths of an inch in length, and a little over
one-half of an inch in their greatest diameter.
Three years or more are required for the development of the fully adult
plumage. The throat of the female, though black, is not as pure a black
as that of the male, and it is not so extensive or as well defined.