Notes on the Winter Birds of Chenier au Tigre, Louisiana

Abstract

CUENIER AU TIGRE is, as the name indicates, an oak-grown ridge, situated on the gulf coast of Louisiana. It is an isolated spot, being fifty miles or more from a railroad, the traveller winding down the picturesque Bayou Vermilllon by boat from Abbeville (on the Southern Pacific), or from Avery Island via the Salt Mine Bayou to Vermilllon Bay, and then southward down miles of narrow channels through the marshland to the Gulf of Mexico. The Chenler is now easily accessible, for deep canals have been dug, and as a good summer camp has been established, it will probably become a popular resort. The ridge proper is about five miles in length, and anywhere from a few acres to half a mile in width. Vegetation flourishes, and among the common trees are the majestic moss-hung oaks, which have been storm-whipped for generations, prickly ash, locust, ironwood, hackberry, chinaberry, red haw and mesquite (Acacia),--as well as almost impenetrable growths of palmetto, prickly pear and tough4imbed shrubs. Sandy beaches extend along the Gulf, with extensive mud fiats at the western end, while open marshland is on all sides, except for the Gulf of Mexico to the south; it is a wonderful place for wild life, and at no time of the year is it without its hosts of birds. In the spring, the mi-