THE OOLOGIST 



183 



vireo sitting on her nest. It was 

 about 20 feet from the ground so I 

 shinned up a birch that grew just 

 within about 10 feet of the nest and 

 as soon as I got a little above the 

 nest I found as I expected a solitary 

 vireo at ihome. Descending, I cut a 

 pole, fastened a fork istick on the end 

 for a hook, and again ascending, I 

 pulled the limib over and safely land- 

 ed the nest. In a laurel swamp where 

 the tinTber was open I heard a yel- 

 low-bellied flycatcher, but it was a 

 nasty place, so I wasted no time. The 

 yellow-belly is very rare in summer, 

 but pro'bably breeds. For a mile fur- 

 ther I tramped up an old tramway 

 finding another Magnolia nest with 

 an incomplete set, and then I arrived 

 at a slashing well studded with scat- 

 tering hemlocks and 'huge dead stubs. 

 Here on the 10th I had heard the 

 loud call of an olive-sided flycatcher. 

 I heard iboth ibirds this time, and soon 

 found t'hem perched on ibig stu'bs. I 

 watched for over an hour 'but they 

 showed no signs of nest building, so 

 I concluded the nest must already 'be 

 flnished, and that I might as well 

 wait a week until the old bird com- 

 menced to set. In June, 1904, I locat- 

 ed a pair and after lots of watching 

 I found and secured the nest and 3 

 eggs, which as near as I can flnd is 

 the only record for Western Pennsyl- 

 vania. The bird is rare, but I have 

 proibobly seen more of this bird and 

 more specimens in Pennsylvania 

 than any collector in the state. While 

 watching the flycatchers, I saw plen- 

 ty of birds. I noticed two birds ma- 

 king regular trips to a small beech 

 among the hemlocks. G-oing over, I 

 found a nest of solitary vireos build- 

 ing. For some reason this nest was 

 never finis'hed. 



Saw a yellow-bellied woodpecker 

 feeding its' young hig'h up in an old 

 stub, and quite low in another was a 

 flicker's nest, also full of young. 



Mourning and chestnut-sided warb- 

 lers also yellow-throats were very 

 much in evidence, but after thrash- 

 ing about for a short time amongst the 

 briars and brush I quit them. Also 

 noticed red-tail and red-shouldered 

 hawks, besides many commoner 

 birds. 



Starting to cross the stream I saw 

 a good big trout, possibly a foot long, 

 and while sizing him up I noticed a 

 winter wren's nest under the end of 

 a rotten moss-covered log that stuck 

 out over the bank. It was, of course, 

 too late for this, as the young had al- 

 ready left. 



Starting up the mountain, I found 

 a Magnolia's nest just flnished. In a 

 heavy patch of mountain laurel I 

 found a beautiful nest of the black- 

 throated blue warbler, containing 3 

 egs, which I left. Coming out on 

 a point on the opposite side of the 

 mountain I found a Magnolia at home 

 on four fresh eggs. There was quite 

 a bed of low thick laurel on this 

 point and I bunted it over thoroughly 

 with the result that I found two hand- 

 some sets of four each of b.-t. blues, 

 also four or five old nests showing 

 this to be a favorite place. 



A couple of male Blackburnians 

 were singing at this place but I could 

 find no nest. However, on my trip 

 the following Sunday I did find a nest 

 from wbich a couple of days later I 

 secured a heavily marked set of four. 

 I visited the nest from which on May 

 26th I got the handsome set of sharp- 

 shin hawks. As there was no signs 

 of the old birds about I took the nest 

 along to go with the eggs. Besides 

 the warblers mentioned I saw several 

 water thrushes and black and whites, 

 a few redstarts, quite a number of 

 Canadians and black-throated green 

 and a few hooded; oven-birds, and 

 parulas were common. 



