Notes from Field and Study 



215 



birds are all right. — R. J. O'Neal, 314 

 Pine street, St. Louis. 



City Bird-Life 



For the encouragement of any one 

 who is longing to become acquainted with 

 our native birds, but feels greatly handi- 

 capped by residence in the city, I wish to 

 give my experience. 



During the winter months, I live in the 

 heart of the great city of Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 in a section called Stuyvesant Heights, 

 which is entirely built up. At the corner 

 is a large church, a few steps from which 

 is the apartment house in which I live. 

 The third floor on the east side of the 

 building constitutes my home, and it is 

 on a level with the roofs of two small frame 

 buildings standing between the church 

 and the apartment. 



A small silver maple tree is growing by 

 the side of the house, so close that some of 

 the branches brush against the east win- 

 dow of the dining-room. At the rear of 

 the house, the block is made up, for the 

 most part, of small, detached houses, 

 which date back to a time when this part 

 of the city was suburbs, — -consequently 

 there are numerous large trees both in 

 front of the houses and in the yards at 

 the back. 



When I first came here to live, which 

 is about ten years ago, there was a large 

 vine of Virginia creeper running over a 

 portion of the church, and other surfaces 

 were covered with Japanese ivy. Doubt- 

 less, the presence of the trees and the fruit 

 of the vines made the locality attractive 

 to birds, so that during my residence here 

 I have seen from the windows or the house- 

 top, or have heard the notes of the follow- 

 ing species: Baltimore Oriole, Orchard 

 Oriole, Towhee, Catbird, Cuckoo, Chicka- 

 dee, Chimney Swift, Fox Sparrow, White- 

 throated Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, 

 Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, 

 Wood Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Herring 

 Gull, Hummingbird, Junco, Maryland 

 Yellaw-throat, Magnolia Warbler, Red- 

 start, Canadian Warbler, Nighthawk, 

 Oven-bird, Phoebe, Wood Pewee, Robin, 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-eyed Vireo 

 and Scarlet Tanager. 



I have suspected the presence of several 

 other species, but could not see the birds 

 well enough to positively identify them, 

 or could not with absolute certainty dis- 

 tinguish the song. 



One mid-February morning I saw a 

 "wedge" of birds proceeding northward, 

 which I supposed were Wild Geese, and in 

 a nearby street I once saw a Bluebird. 



With the exception of the Gulls, all of 

 the birds have been seen during either the 

 spring or the fall period of "migration. 

 My first acquaintance with the Hermit 

 Thrush and the Golden-crowned Kinglet 

 was made from my windows here in the 

 city. One time a Hermit Thrush calmly 

 and deliberately took a bath in a pool of 

 water left by recent rain on the roof of 

 the adjoining house above referred to, and 

 another time one rested for at least twenty 

 minutes in the maple tree, not more than 

 six feet from the window. 



In this same maple tree I have had 

 thrilling glimpses of Kinglets and Warb- 

 lers that were almost within reach of the 

 hand. It stirs one's blood strangely to 

 hear such a song as that of the Wood 

 Thrush (as I did last spring), where ordi- 

 narily nothing more musical is heard than 

 the chirp of the English Sparrow, the buzz 

 of the trolley car and the clang of its bell, 

 the rumble and clatter of passing vehicles, 

 the harsh shouts of the vender, or the 

 persistent clamor of boys at play. — Mary 

 F. Day, 658 Monroe street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Birds at Mount St Gabriel, 

 Peekskill, N. Y. 



The locality surrounding Saint Gabriel's 

 School, Peekskill, N. Y., is rich in bird 

 life. Ninety different kinds of birds were 

 identified during the year 1908, within a 

 radius of a mile and a half from the school; 

 and thirty-one of these are known to have 

 nested here. Nests were found belonging 

 to Baltimore Orioles (four). Redstarts 

 (two), Wood Thrushes (three). Humming- 

 birds (three), Chipping Sparrows (four), 

 Red-eyed Viroes (three), Robins (twelve), 



