198 Bird -Lore 



inhabited; Mr. C. H. Rogers found but twenty nests with young on May 20; 

 the following winter the timber was cut from this tract, and the birds formed a 

 new colony the succeeding spring at Valley Forge. 



The Red Hill colony contained ninety occupied nests in high ash, chestnut, 

 oak and cherry trees on May 26, 1914, though someone had 'shot it up' on May 

 3, and there were dead birds found. A visit by some friends on June 20 revealed 

 some twenty-five freshly killed adults, shot for their plumes by Italian quarry- 

 men, and the survivors increased the Valley Forge colony the following year, 

 though it is probable that they attempted to breed on the old grounds early 

 in the season. 



The Fort Washington colony of one hundred pairs normally was located on 

 the eastern slope of Militia Hill, near the Wissahickon Creek, Montgomery 

 County, in mixed chestnut timber. Mr. G. B. Benners first saw the birds at 

 this place in 1892 and then continuously until 1902, when there were about 

 twenty pairs. At this date he found dead birds lying around and the nests 

 deserted, the work of three boys of rich and influential parents of the neighbor- 

 hood. They had shot the birds as they flew from the nests and even pulled 

 down many of the nests. Naturally this colony passed out of existence. 



Probably the successor to the Blue Rock colony was located on the Sacony 

 Creek near Weisenburg, Lehigh County. Mr. W. H. Leibelsperger writes me 

 that it was a most pitiable sight when he and his friend approached it in May, 

 1904; the nests and eggs were wantonly destroyed and many of the poor birds 

 slaughtered; only a few birds remained, and a single nest found 60 feet up in a 

 pine contained heavily incubated eggs. 



About three weeks later some fifty nests were discovered in a small tract of 

 pine woods near Moselem, Berks County, probably the refugees of the Weisen- 

 burg colony. 



The Valley Forge colony was founded in 1906 through the enforced removal 

 of the Port Kennedy colony as previously mentioned. Situated in a thicket of 

 saphngs of 25 years' growth, I found thirty-five nests at an average height 

 of less than 25 feet, on April 30, and a later visit convinced me they had had a 

 successful season. May 30, 1907, there were twenty-seven new nests, and later in 

 the season Mr. A. C. Redfield counted one hundred and fifty nests, presumably 

 the accretion of the Perkiomen colony. During 1908 it was reported that the 

 Italian laborers working nearby were carrying away bags of young for food. 

 On April 20, 1909, a visit revealed about one hundred nests, not all occupied, 

 and the birds appeared much harried. A visit by Messrs. Redfield and L. S. 

 Pierson on May 9 found the thicket deserted. The birds had been constantly 

 annoyed by Italian pot-hunters and well-meaning visitors. As late as August 

 8, 1910, I saw eight adults about the ground in an open pasture, waiting for 

 some intruder to depart from the grove, where they were unsuccessfully 

 attempting to nest; the wretched remnants of a promising colony of two years 

 previous. 



