Oct. L889.] 



AND OOLOGLST. 



157 



is shared by only one other bird, the Box 

 Swallow {bicolor). To these two the uninviting 

 fruit of our pungent-leaved bayberry seems to 

 be acceptable, though perhaps unequally at- 

 tractive. The Swallow seems to be very fond 

 of the berry, especially in the fall, when they 

 cover the bushes by thousands in some places, 

 and make an entire repast of the berries, 

 and 1 liave seen them in spring eating those 

 which have survived the wunter. 



Bluebirds are far less frequent visitors to 

 this bush, and I imagine that they only par- 

 take when hunger drives them to it, as I have 

 found them eating the tallowy berries only on 

 two or three occasions in early spring. 



The only other prominent bird on this 

 autumn day was that bird of many names, — 

 the "dicker." A local name used on Cape 

 Ann is, I think, new in i)rint. viz, "Yellow 

 Wing." 



The Flicker, when seen at all, is always con- 

 spicuous, but on this day he was more plenti- 

 ful than usual, and twice during my walk I 

 noticed signs of that habit common with its 

 f'alifornian variety, but newly (?) acquired by 

 the eastern Flicker, of boring into buildings. 

 One example was in the side of a barn, and I 

 was fortunate enough to see the occupant en- 

 tering just at sunset, probably to spend the 

 night. The other hole was similarly situated 

 in an old corn house. On another occasion 

 during a bright morning late iu November I saw 

 one of these birds in tlie act of leaving a hole 

 likewise in a barn, and I know of an ice house 

 which is literally full ()f holes made by these 

 birds in order to reach the sawdust, into which 

 they burrow for their winter quarters. Two 

 other instances which have come to my atten- 

 ti(ni are worth notice; (me of a Woodpecker 

 which had taken up his abode in a hole which 

 he made under the eaves of a dwelling, where 

 he spent several winters. And the otlier, told 

 me by a friend and fre<iuent contributer to this 

 magazine, of a Flicker which nested several 

 years in a crevice of an unused chimney in his 

 grandfather's house. As I came suddenly into 

 a clearing among a growth of thick bushes and 

 trees, I started a Flicker which was climbing 

 the vertical trunk of a tree, like any other 

 Woodpecker, a position comparatively rare for 

 auratus to assiime, for he is most fond of feed- 

 ing on the ground. 



In a dismantled garden, a place of old weeds 

 and nettles, I foinid a Hock of " thistle-birds," 

 the American Goldfincli. They were feeding 

 on the "devil's pitchforks" and seeds of some 

 golden-rod which had. nliis. lost its gold in the 



wheel of fortune, and remained in its old age 

 a dull feathei-y white. 



Earlier in the fall I had noticed this same 

 flock busily picking the cones in a fir planta- 

 tion near by, aud all which I examined were 

 daubed with their sticky pitch, and stuck with 

 sand in which they had been enjoying a dust- 

 ing bout with the Chipijers. 



The last thing which I saw before reaching 

 home was an inijuisitive Downy Woodpecker, 

 busily engaged in searching for a late supper 

 on a telegraph pole, and I wondered if with 

 darkness and his sleepy eyes, he had not made 

 a slight mistake. Harry Gordon White. 



Nesting of the Pine "Warbler in 1889 

 at Raleigh, N. C. 



We expected to get a large numl)er of sets 

 of eggs of the Pine Warbler {!). piniift) this 

 year, judging from last year's experience, but 

 said experience was scarcely worth anything 

 to us. I found tlie first nest building the 

 same day and near the same place as last 

 year's No. 1, and after that we found eight 

 more nests of the first laying, but only got five 

 sets from tliem. Of the second laying (that 

 is the rebuilding of nests already taken) we 

 found five nests and got five sets therefrom. 

 We also found two nests just started binlding 

 which were afterwards deserted. 



The date for sets was April 12th to ISth (first 

 laying) and April 29 to May 2d, (second laying). 

 Of the ten sets taken there were eight of 

 sets of four eggs each, and two of three eggs 

 each (one of these was a full set, the other ap- 

 parently incomplete as the bird laid four the 

 next time.) 



The nests were built in the same general 

 situations as last year, but most of them 

 were lower, one however was higher than 

 any of last year's, being seventy feet up in a 

 loose barked pine, and fortunately reachable 

 from the trunk. 



Last yeai''s sets of the first laying could all 

 have been taken on one day; this year April 12th 

 found incubated sets and empty nests as well. 



Of the fourteen nests found in various 

 stages of completion, ten were found by watch- 

 ing the l)ir(ls building, two by seeing birds 

 act suspiciously in the tree the nest was in, 

 and two by looking in the neigliborhood of 

 where we thought a nest was. 



The male bird was found sitting on the nest 



on two occasions, both times in the forenoon. 



C. S. Jirinili'i/. 

 naleiffh. X. C 



