■92 Bird -Lore 



some time was so absorbed in that, and in listening for its expected 

 song, that there was no time to make notes of the other birds heard, 

 except that of a Wood Thrush, whose nest contained four eggs, and 

 was saddled on the crotch of a grape-vine, where it crossed through 

 the crotch of an alder. 



To make a long story short, I did not find the Vireos, or even 

 hear them, though for several years they had lived here throughout 

 the summer. I finally went out into an open space, lighted a pipe 

 as a mosquito preventive, and, seating myself on the soft side of a 

 boulder, put down the names of the birds whose notes I could hear. 



Below me, in the swamp, the most prominent notes were the 

 'concarees' of the Red-winged Blackbirds, while between them could 

 be heard the songs of several Swamp Sparrows. Close beside me 

 were a Chestnut-sided and a Golden-winged Warbler, both seemingly 

 much disturbed by my presence, while just as near was a Maryland 

 Yellow-throat, an old friend of mine, who did not seem to care 

 whether I was there or not. This same friend is rather a curiosity, 

 for, although his species usually build in or about the marshes or 

 ■swamps, he always prefers the hillside, and I last year found his nest 

 within forty feet of where I sat, and several hundred feet away from 

 and above the swamp. 



A few Cedar Birds were whispering from the tops of a couple of 

 red cedars about fifty yards away, and I could hear a Yellow Warbler 

 •on the other side of the open space, where he sang, apparently for 

 the benefit of a near-by barberry bush. 



A Wood Pewee was uttering his plaintive note from the orchard 

 immediately back of me ; while just back of that, in the field by the 

 top of the hill, could be heard the rollicking notes of a Bobolink and 

 the occasional call of a Meadow Lark. While writing my notes, some 

 kind of a large Hawk, which flew so fast that identification was 

 impossible, but which I guessed to be a Cooper's Llawk, went 

 off rapidly across the marsh, pursued by a pair of vociferous King- 

 birds ; and, as I watched them, I could see numbers of Chimney 

 Swifts, from the neighboring chimneys, and Barn Swallows, from a 

 barn close by, coursing about above the marsh after the insects that 

 there abound, the Swallows low down and the Swifts above. While 

 watching the Swallows, two Crows came out of the wood on the 

 opposite side of the marsh, and fiew, cawing, across and off into the 

 ■distance ; and a little Green Heron, who, like all fishermen, prefers 

 quiet, flew off in another direction. 



Down towards the edge of the swamp, in the outlying thicket, 

 a Song Sparrow was singing, while, close by, a magnificent Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, which every year builds in the birches which grow 



