THE OOLOGIST. 



25 



iintly for man the materials aud op- 

 portunities wherel)}' he may provide 

 for himself. 



On May 8d while working in the 

 woods I noticed a Hairy Woodpecker 

 pluming herself and while watching 

 lier she Hew about 70 yards and alight- 

 ed upon an Ash tree in a swamp. The 

 tree referred to was broken off at the 

 heighth of about 50 feet and was dead 

 for a few feet lower. In the dead por- 

 tion were several Woodpecker holes, 

 all old excepting one, below which my 

 bird alighted and after scanning the 

 vicinity very closely for some time she 

 entered her nest. Upon examination I 

 found her eggs to be four in number 

 and perfectly' fresh. A short distance 

 from this find I Hushed a La. Water 

 Thrush from the roots of an upturned 

 tree and there in plain view was her 

 nest among roots, about 16 inches 

 above water and containing six lovely 

 fresh eggs 



On May 5th while felling hemlock 

 stubs in a pasture I noticed several 

 Robins making an unusual outcry and 

 upon approaching a clump of bushes 

 where they were a Saw Wiiet Owl flew 

 away a short distance and desiring a 

 specimen I cautiously approached it 

 and was successful in killing it with 

 a pole. 1 immediately noticed that it 

 was a feniale and had been incubating. 

 Just then I reiDembered that when a 

 certain very dry, crumbly, rotten to])- 

 ped stub was felled that a cloud of dust 

 and some bits of down arose and float- 

 ed awaj' in the air from the top of it. 

 The thought of discovering broken 

 eggs made me heart-sick, but instead, 

 six young Owls were excavated from 

 the ruins of wliat had been at a remote 

 time the nesting place of a Flicker. 

 The young varied in size frem a little 

 downy fellow to one larger than their 

 parent and no two were the same size 

 l)ut were a perfect graduation. All 

 had been covered with cream colored 

 down and brown feathers had started 



on the large ones. So brown were the 

 feathers and so large one of the j'oung 

 that at first I thought them to be 

 Screech Owls, l)ut the nest was proof 

 of the species, for amongr^t bird feath- 

 ers, mouse hair and cast up pelle;;s, 

 the feathers of the old Saw Whet Owls 

 predominated. I regret very much 

 that all the young had been killed by 

 the falling of the tree, for I would like 

 to have caged and tanked them. 



Evening Grosbeaks were very com- 

 mon here last winter and I heard the 

 loud notes of a few individuals as. late 

 as the middle of May. 



Hermit Thrushes are an abundant 

 summer resident. The only nest of 

 this species observed was discovered 

 while I Avas picking huckleberries. 

 The eggs were four in number and 

 closely resembled those of Wilson's 

 Thrush, as did also the nest, which was 

 placed amongst bog moss and well hid- 

 den by bushes of the huckleb»nTv. The 

 date of this find was altout the last of 

 July. 



On August 5t]i I took pails and start- 

 ed out to hunt wild berries and after 

 few hours' tramp discovered a marsh 

 that no human berry pickers had med- 

 dled with. Before my delighted gaze 

 were thousands of quarts of huckle- 

 berries of the largest size and nearly 

 all ripe. Such a beautiful sight. The 

 bushes about one foot high and laden 

 with bunches of berries so large that 

 they resembled sprigs of grapes. I 

 fllled my dishes in a few minutes and 

 took a stroll through the marsh. I 

 could not walk without crnshing the 

 ripe fruit by the quart. I observed a 

 j)air of Marsli Hawks and searched 

 in vain for th(nr nest. The shrubbery 

 and trees surrouiuling the marsh re- 

 sounded with noises of birds which 

 surely were enjoying life to its fullest 

 extent. The fruit-eating birds of this 

 locality are, during the summer abund- 

 antly supplied with wild fruit, such as 

 strawberries, i-ed and i)lack raspber- 



