THE OSPEEY. 



EIGHT DAYS AMONG THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



By John N. Ci.ak'k. 



The naturalist, like other people, will tire at 

 last of sameness; after seeing' for successive 

 seasons, onlj' the same woods and fields, the 

 same birds and nests, the same trees and flowers, 

 and hearing the same song's, the identity may 

 become to some extent monotonous, and the 

 long'ing for change almost irresistable. Yet 

 with most of us the ties of nature and business 

 seem hard to break, thoug-h the facilities of 

 travels overcome many seemingly insurmounta- 

 ble obstacles, and a day's ride will bear one so 

 far, that the changes are marvelous. Thus from 

 the shores of Long Island Sound at eigiit o'clock 

 in the morning was I borne away, and at nine 

 in the evening was under the shadow of Mt. 

 Washington, whose summit shone before me 

 the following d^Lj (the first day of June) crowned 

 with snow. 



Wonderful were the chang-e that confronted 

 me, as I wandered in the shadows of the lofty 

 maples in that land of sugar camps, with the 

 ghastly pillars of white birches towering equalU' 

 high; or in the g-loom of the dense forests of 

 spruce and fir, which were everywhere, hig'-h 

 and low, in field and forest, covering- hill and 

 valle)% as shrubs, bushes, or trees, and all these 

 had been known to me hitherto only as orna- 

 ments of the lawn at home. There were massive 

 oaks and chestnuts towering aloft, or the Eaiu'el 

 and Clethra, and Smilax below that crowned the 

 hills, and covered and tang-led the valleys at my 

 Connecticut home, and none of the Pink Azaleas 

 that painted there both hill and vale, but here 

 were painted spots, acres in extent, where 

 bloomed the Pinxter flower in wondrous profu- 

 sion and beauty, as bright as the Azalea and 

 Laurel at home. 



But the birds were the special attraction that 

 drew me to these mountains and valleys, and I 

 was awake, to catch their first salutation of the 

 opening- day, and what should it be but '■'C/whec'" 

 the very bird that nested under my bedroom 

 window at home, and devoted himself to showing 

 how many times in each day he could repeat his 

 own name. That note sounded homelike, and 

 when a Robin, a Chippy, and a Warbling Vireo 

 joined the chorus, it was difficult to realize one- 

 self so far away from home. I soon found that 

 I had to run away from all my old acquaint- 

 ances; the Vesper and Song Sparrows, the Bobo- 

 links, the Kingbirds, the Barn Swallows, and 

 House Martins were, if possible, even more 

 abundant than in Connecticut; but it was the 

 ncic notes that I had come to hear, and I had 

 scarcelj^ reached the first grove, when their salu- 

 tations greeted me. The first was the White- 

 throated Sparrow, which I realh' thought at first 

 a farmer's boy with his willow whistle, and even 

 when the notes seemed to wake up in evei-y 

 quarter, I could scarcely banish the thought of "a 

 partj^ of school boys with whistles all pitched to 

 the same key. I "found these birds very abund- 

 ant, nesting- on the ground, in the grass, the 

 brush, the bushes, everywhere in the swampy 

 openings of the woods, and cveryfhiug 7C'as 

 swampy, with scarcely a spot in field, or pasture, 

 or woodland, without little pools or trickling- 



streams. making- rubbers an absolute necessity. 

 These pools were the key to the ornithological 

 situation, filled as they were with the larvae of 

 the innumerable host of insects that swarmed 

 everywhere, among- which mosqui-toes held an 

 uncomfortable proportion. These insects at- 

 tracted and fed the small birds that poured forth 

 their songs from every bush and tree, in mar- 

 vellous numbers and varieties. It is a veritable 

 Paradise for the Warblers and Flycatchers. 

 One abundant bird seemed to have prepared 

 nest and egg-s for the special delig-ht of the 

 collector, in the Spruce bushes about four or 

 five feet up, an easy find, with nest like a typical 

 Chippie's; but unmistakable, and handsomely 

 marked W^arbler eg-gs we found, quite a number 

 of them, all ready for the collector's hand, with- 

 out audible protest or visible owner. They 

 were called Magnolia Warblers. The Warbler 

 species abounded everywhere. Nashville War- 

 blers were ver^' abundant in open fields con- 

 tiguous to woodland, their song-s echoed from 

 every direction, three of their nests each with 5 

 eggs fell under nn' observation; the)' were very 

 ciosel}' concealed in the slight grass of the pas- 

 ture, usually in some mossy bank: my friend 

 found one in the same site, used by the bird 

 last year. Black-throated Blue Warblers were 

 common, and the song- of the male and chipping- 

 of the female greeted us in every swami)y 

 place visited; but we found no nests — perhaps 

 we did not kiunv how or where to look. The 

 Blackburnian Warbler was another very abund- 

 ant bird, chanting its silver)' notes among- the 

 branches of every grove, wherever we went. 

 Realizing- the difficulty of locating a little nest 

 among- the dense tops of the Spruce groves, 

 little or no effort was made to thc.t end; but if 

 in due projjortion to the birds, such ne.^ts must 

 be very numerous in that section. The Myrtle 

 Warbler was not rare, and its harmonious thrill 

 often attracted my attention. One or two nests 

 were observed; these were also in small Spruce 

 trees, about six or eig-ht feet from the giornd, 

 more substantially built than the Magnoli;^'s, 

 of fine Hemlock twigs and warmly lined with 

 feathers. One other little Warbler, which seem- 

 ed to be the nu)st abundant bird in that section, 

 was the Canada Flycatching Warbler, evei-y- 

 where present, and manifesting itself by its 

 song-, constantly repeated from every grove and 

 thicket, a weak imitation of the notes of the 

 Hooded Warbler, so well known at home. 



It seemed as if the nest of a bird so abundant, 

 must fall under the observation of so nnich visi- 

 tation, if on or near the g-round as I have been 

 informed, and to that end most diligent was 

 the search; especially did I examine among- the 

 heaps of roots, mud and sphagnum thrown up by 

 the numerous wind prostrated trees which were 

 so plenty in some swampy places as to make 

 them almost impenetrable; at last I found a nest, 

 and exulted at the triumph. It was built into 

 the side of one of those piles of earth among^ the 

 roots, mud and sphagnum, about four or five feet 

 up, and composed of sphagnum dry and brown, 

 and neatly lined with fine grass. Later we 



