IS© 



Bird - Lore 



and below these shelves. This picture shows 

 230 of the nests, and the remaining 70 are on 

 the sides of the barn. There are at least 50 

 more Cliff Swallows' nests on my other 

 buildings. I have a dozen Barn Swallows' 

 nests in one building. Each fall I cover these 

 nests to protect them from Owls, Sparrows, 

 and Woodpeckers, and remove these covers 

 in the spring when the Swallows return. 



A CLIFF SWALLOW COLONY 



Last spring I cleaned and hung up fifty 

 gourds and had nine box houses for House 

 Wrens. This fall practically each one had a 

 nest in it. I even placed some of the gourds 

 on the porches and the Wrens chose this 

 location as readily as any other. The Wrens 

 seem to prefer the dipper gourds to the box 

 houses. 



I also had Bronzed Grackles, Robins, 

 Mourning Doves, and Brown Thrashers, 

 nesting in bracket boxes which I placed in 

 the trees. 



I am sixty-four years old, and I enjoy 

 having and watching these birds, some of 

 which are not very common in this locality, 

 each season. — Rasmus Christensen, New- 

 ark, Neb. 



A Queer Mockingbird 



In 'Notes from Field and Study' for July- 

 August Bird-Lore, 1920, I gave an account 

 of a Mockingbird which, in the summer of 

 1919, for several successive days, at the same 

 place in its medley, imitated in a definite 

 order several members of the Flycatcher 

 family. On July 1, 1920, I heard the same 

 medley with the Flycatcher notes in the 

 same order. Evidently the same bird was 



the songster and was especially fond of this 

 number of his repertory. I did not hear this 

 song again after this day and am unable to 

 say whether the bird disappeared or merely 

 changed his tune. I listened often in the 

 summer of 1921 for the renewal of this song, 

 but, though many Mockingbirds sang, none 

 gave the Flycatcher program. — Gordon 

 Wilson, Bowling Green, Ky. 



Bicknell's Thrush in Maine 



Bicknell's Thrush, the southern form of 

 the Gray-cheeked Thrush, is known to occur 

 in the higher portions of the White Moun 

 tains in New Hampshire and in several places 

 in Nova Scotia. Between lie the mountains 

 of Northern Maine. Several peaks in this 

 region rise above the tree-level and carry a 

 well-developed Hudsonian flora. These peaks 

 form ideal Bicknell country and there 

 are unconfirmed reports of the occurrence of 

 the species, yet as far as the writer knows no 

 specimen of the bird has been taken in the 

 state. The purpose of this note is to point 

 out this lack of a record of a bird which should 

 be common in suitable localities and to add 

 a new location where the bird has been 'seen.' 



Mount Bigelow rises from between the 

 Carrabassett and Dead Rivers to the height 

 of 2,600 feet above the valley of the Dead 

 River, or 3,800 feet above sea-level. The 

 lower slopes of the mountain are covered 

 with hardwood, mainly beech. As one 

 ascends, this is replaced by a birch and hem- 

 lock forest with a thick undergrowth of ferns 

 and white-wood sorrel. At still higher levels 

 spruce and balsam fir become dominant. 

 Finally there is the summit area above the 

 scrub spruce where the characteristic vege- 

 tation consists of mountain cranberry, 

 alpine bearberry, crowberry, Greenland 

 sandwort, and scrub birch. 



On July 13, 1921, Mr. A. S. Pope and the 

 writer climbed the mountain from the Dead 

 River side. Just as we came out of the scrub 

 spruce at its upper edge a Thrush called. 

 The bird was discovered on a spruce top 

 where it was joined by another. The call- 

 notes of these birds were different from those 

 of the Olive-backs and Hermits which were 

 common in the lower woods. A little later a 



