ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 14-N(). 1 



nests being found, so far as I am aware, only 

 by watchino- the birds. 



The Wood Pewee {Contoptts virenx), dented 

 Flycatcher {Myiarr.1iu.<t crinituK),Cha,t {Irteria vi- 

 rens), Catbird {Gnleoscoptes carolinenKis), Brown 

 Thrasher {Harporhyndms rnfus) Flicker {Colap- 

 tes auratm), and in fact all those species be- 

 longing to adjacent shores of New Jersey are 

 here found in great numbers. They are at least 

 ten days later in breeding, however, than the 

 same species on mainland only four miles 

 across the sound. 



Of sea birds the most numerous is the Least 

 Tern {Sterna anfillarum). I was walking slowly 

 along the beach on a burning hot morning 

 thinking entirely of the Piping Plovers, and 

 marvelling at their wonderful power of secret- 

 ing their nests, when my attention was attracted 

 by about :^>0 pairs of these birds flying about 

 overhead directly over a large pile of shells 

 which had in some unaccountable way been 

 made just above the shingle of the beach. On 

 closer examination I found a number of sets of 

 eggs all around the base of the pile, in no case 

 more than two eggs in a set, and frequently 

 one, well set on. No two sets are alike in 

 primary color and they make a beautiful se- 

 ries. To be taken fresh they should be col- 

 lected about June 10. 



The Laughing (4ull (Larus atriciUd) builds its 

 nest on the meadows where it is difficult for 

 man to venture, generally depositing three 

 eggs, and although I did not take my sets my- 

 self I had a dozen sets sent to me by a man I 

 had employed to look them up after my de- 

 parture. Tlie Common Tern {Sterna hhnmdo) 

 is abundant and nests side by side with the 

 Least Terns. The Roseate Tern {S. dongalU) 

 formerly lived here in numbers but have been 

 driven away by the persistent persecution of 

 gunners. 



This island is a very rich one in bird life now, 

 but its future history is easily predicted, and be- 

 fore many years its rich collecting ground will 

 be the scene of recreation and revelry, and its 

 avian fauna transferred to other shores. 



n. A. B. 



A Visit to a Relative of Alexander 

 Wilson. 



About a mile from the little village of South 

 Lyon, Oakland County, Michigan, in a fine 

 farming country, stands the residence of James 

 Duncan, the cmly surviving son of Alexander 

 Duncan, who was a nephew of Alexander Wil- 



son, the great ornithologist, and who is often 

 spoken of in his biography. AYe found Mr. 

 Duncan at home, who gave us a hearty wel- 

 come. He is tall and slim in stature, with long 

 curly hair that hangs upon his shoulders, and 

 a keen piercing eye, like that of his noted an- 

 cestor. He has a large farm of eight hundred 

 acres of good farming land, beside a beautiful 

 body of water known as Silver Lake, which 

 abounds in fish, and on its bank he keeps a 

 tent fitted up with a stove, cooking utensils, 

 fishing tackle, etc., for the accommodation of his 

 friends, who come to visit him. He is a fine 

 cook, and if some of my ornithological friends 

 could be at his camp and eat some of the fish 

 that he cooks himself, they would need no 

 other proof. His father and mother are buried 

 on a little spot of ground, laid out for that pur- 

 pose on the farm, and, having no wife or chil- 

 dren, he hires all of his domestic help, for like 

 Wilson, he is a bachelor. He does not seem to 

 be overly interested in birds, but he is a noted 

 hunter, and keeps a bountiful supply of guns 

 and dogs, and makes liis annual tour to the 

 northern woods of Michigan in pursuit of deer, 

 which is his favorite game. 



Believing that a great majority of the orni- 

 thologists and oologists of America are not 

 aware of the existence of a relative of the 

 great Alexander Wilson, and feeling that it 

 might be interesting, I was prompted to write , 

 this little sketch. Javies B. Piirdy. 



Nesting of the Mourning W^arbler. 



About the year 1877, in the early days of 

 June, as I was nest-hunting in a piece of 

 swampy woods near the railway track, about 

 a mile south of this town, and while I was cau- 

 tiously moving through a clump of low. second 

 growth underwood, chiefly composed of 

 swamp maple, my attention was arrested by 

 a series of sharp chipping bird notes, and, 

 gazing in the direction from whence the 

 sounds came, I saw that the author was a 

 small bird, whose plumage I then took to be of 

 a uniform dusty brown hue. A little more re- 

 search discovered that the cause of her solici- 

 tude was a partly composed nest, placed on the 

 horizontal branch of a small cedar, a little over 

 a foot off the ground. Her notes of displeasure 

 soon brought her mate on the scene, and he, 

 fiitting among the newly acquired foliage of 

 the shrubbery, added his notes \\\ sympathy 

 with hers, but from the glimpses that I then 

 got of both birds, I did not discover any varia- 

 tion in their plumage. 



