39 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



it was about three and a half inches across and slightly hollowed, per- 

 haps three quarters of an inch. This nest contained six eggs, speckled 

 with reddish-brown. 



Around the hole on the outside of the stub a circle of fresh pitch 

 had been smeared by the birds, perhaps for the purpose of keeping out 

 the ants with which decaying stumps are apt to swarm. I have never 

 before heard or read of this habit ; none of our ornithologists, so far as 

 I can learn, make any mention of the fact ; but since the above instance 

 came to my notice I have learned of another case of the kind, where 

 the stub was a white birch, showing that my example was not alto- 

 gether exceptional, and the fact that it is unnoticed by our ornitholo- 

 gists may be owing only to a scarcity of observers. 



The geographical range of different species of birds is not so defi- 

 nitely marked as might be supposed, for, although there are certain well- 

 defined boundaries which separate the birds of different parts of the 

 world, and of different parts of the same country, yet these limits are be- 

 ing constantly broken over by accidental visitors from other countries, 

 by the birds increasing their range, or by stragglers from other orni- 

 thological districts of the same country. A South American humming- 

 bird was obtained at Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few years ago. The 

 Egyptian neophron has been shot in England, and the European corn- 

 crake is occasionally found on the Atlantic coast of the United 

 States. 



The cliff or eave-swallow, perhaps, furnishes the best example of 

 increased range to be found among our birds. When first discovered 

 it was apparently confined to limited areas in the AVest and Southwest, 

 but at present it spreads over nearly the whole country and is yearly 

 increasing its limits. 



In order to be more fully understood in speaking of ornithological 

 districts, it may be well to cite as examples the two regions of New 

 England sometimes called the Alleghanian and Canadian. These dis- 

 tricts are divided by a line drawn from the coast of Maine, near Mount 

 Desert, and running southwesterly on the ridge of high land which 

 extends across the southern portion of the State into the highland 

 region of New Hampshire, thence running northwesterly across Ver- 

 mont. This division is so marked that some birds that are common in 

 the southern district are almost unknown in the northern, where they 

 may occasionally appear, however, as stragglers. Much more striking 

 examples are sometimes seen, as in the case of a cardinal grosbeak that 

 was shot at Orrington, in Maine, a few years since this bird's habi- 

 tat being the southern portions of the United States. 



I recently had the pleasure of following up and reporting a most 

 interesting case of the finding of birds beyond their supposed limits. 

 In this instance the bird was the loggerhead shrike ( Colluris ludovi- 

 cianus), which is a resident of the Southern States, and not supposed to 

 breed in New England. As the case is one of considerable interest, 



