Ai'RiL 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



59 



successful swain, sets up liousekeeping. Slie is 

 very fastidious iu the clioice of a location and 

 during its selection leads her poor husbaixl a 

 pretty life. After digging in here a few iuclies 

 she informs him that tlie wood is too soft; 

 there it is too liard; on this side the situation 

 is too exposed, on the other it is unhandy. At 

 last she settles on one spot and both set to 

 work. For a week the chips fly in all direc- 

 tions, and at tlie end of that time the labors of 

 intubation lomnience. It is well known that 

 although madam is very particular in her fust 

 clioice of a site, yet after once deciding she is 

 very loth to leave it, suffering repeated rob- 

 beries without complaint. In due time tlie 

 young Flickers emerge from the shells and at 

 a very early age leave the hole, perching 

 around on the branches until able to fly. 



Tlie High-hole's flight is easy and graceful 

 and has an elastic freedom that is delightful 

 to behold. They procure their food in tlie 

 usual manner by hopping up the trunks of 

 trees, besides which they often search on the 

 ground and are sometimes in the fruit trees. 



Their well-known cries consist of a single 

 harsli screech and a double cry, " to wliit, to 

 whit," sounding like repeated bursts of harsh 

 laughter. 



On Mackinac Island they go liy tlie name of 

 " Pink Throat " and are sliot for food. This 

 species is often seized by Hawks, some of 

 which, especially the Sharii-sliiuiied, become 

 quite exjieit in tlie capture. 



Stfwai-t K. W'liitr. 



CiMiuI iiapids, Kent County, Mich. 



The Birds of Long Point. 



"At tiioton Long Point, New London f'o., 

 Conn " To this scanty legend on the data 

 slips I will add more llian a word of informa- 

 tion, for the benefit of many inquiring corres- 

 pondents who hold my eggs. .Just half way 

 down Fisher's Island Sound and midway 

 between New Lombui and Watch Hill, Groton 

 Long Point juts out a mile from the Connec- 

 ticut shore with no great deviation from half a 

 mile in width. Witli sliallow coves each side, 

 having pools and areas of salt marsh, reed- 

 beds, upland pastures, beaches, extensive 

 hazel thickets, and stunted groves of decidu- 

 ous trees well dr.aped with lichen, it would 

 anywhere be considered a promising field. 



Relatively to other bustling bird centres, 

 the situation is also fortunate. Across the 

 narrow Sound are the great Fisher's Lsland 



heronry and rookery of Crackles; six miles to 

 the south lies Little Gull Island with the 

 largest colony of Common Terns on the sea- 

 board; to the left of this, Gardiner's Island 

 populous with Fish Hawks; and to the right, 

 Plumb Island with its specialty of Bartram's 

 Sandpiper. Scouting parties from these 

 centres are of daily occurrence here. 



These visitors with the resident avifauna 

 represent a bird population denser and more 

 varied than can be found elsewhere in the 

 State. Tlie phases of bird life thus presented 

 are interesting, and some of the peculiarities 

 worth noting. So, before answering ray in- 

 quirers on the breeding possibilities, I will 

 give a further idea of the environment by 

 jotting a few notes on the migrations and 

 winter birds. With a Bird Stuffer I took a 

 fishing-creel nearly full of Snow Buntings 

 here. On the railroad at the head of the two 

 coves, killed by the suction or swirl of the 

 fast express trains, I have picked up eleven 

 kinds of Warblers, mostly young birds. Here 

 is an agent of destruction to which I have 

 seen no reference in jirint. On the Bluff Point 

 side, in December, 1S90, I secured a Canada 

 Goose and six Snowy Owls — one in the ycmng- 

 of-the-year plumage. There is a Barn Owl in 

 my room at Noank, and an Eider Duck shot 

 from duck blinds off this point. I also shot 

 two SlKut-eared Owls in December 1890, and 

 as long ago as 1876 an egg, presumably of this 

 species, was brought to me by a boy who said 

 he " found it in the grass on Long Point." 



Much romancing is in print about Loons on 

 fresh water ponds, and killing one is chron- 

 icled as a great feat. The fine specimen on 

 my study table was shot with a pistol at 

 short range. They abound at salt water, and 

 their eerie cry is very common in Fisher's 

 Island Sound in .Tune. Flying over the duck 

 blinds they are easily "downed." Half a 

 dozen at a time are taken in the fish-traps with- 

 in twenty feet of tlie shore off Groton Long 

 Point. The Loons drop into the traps after 

 the imprisoned fish, but in taking flight can- 

 not get rise enough to clear the walls of the 

 netting. 



In early October I have seen eleven Snowy 

 Herons at the Point at once, at another time 

 nine, and smaller groups in other seasons. I 

 have eaten young Green and Night Heron 

 from these swamps with no great relish, but 

 the Great Blues if not too old are excellent 

 eating. The whites of all the Herons' eggs 

 are too leathery to be table delicacies. If one 

 has no appetite for hen's eggs, half a dozen 



