158 



ORIvnTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 14-Xo. 10 



The Chuck-wills Widow at Raleigh, 

 N. C. 



The Chuck- wills Widow {Antrostomus earnlin- 

 en.Hls) is tolerably common here, but is very 

 seldom seen — far less often than its smaller 

 cousin, the Whip-poor-will, which to judge 

 by the numbers of each bird which can be 

 heard calling on any still night in the coun- 

 try at the right time of year, ought to come 

 to hand much less often than it does if it 

 were as hard to flush as the big Widow. 



The birds start singing about the last week 

 in April, and this seems to be the right time 

 to find them, if indeed one is lucky enough 

 to find them. 



My experience is as follows: I flushed one 

 (m April 21, 1885, but could not get a shot; on 

 April oO, I flashed two along a fence, and after 

 a while killed one sitting on a bush. F^rom 

 this time on to 1888 I never saw one at all, al- 

 though I lieard them wlienever I hai)pened to 

 be in the country at night. 



On April 27. 1888, I flushed one from under 

 a bush, whereupon he settled in a tree twenty- 

 five feet from the ground, and was promptly 

 collected; while in liis death throes he disgorged 

 the entire body, feathers and all of a Carolina 

 Wren, which I suppose he li.id been intending 

 to digest. The same day I fluslied another, 

 and had an easy shot but missed him clean. 



The few I have flushed always settled in 

 trees, except in the last case, when the bird lit 

 on the ground and was reflushed. and then 

 settled in a tree and was missed. On tlie 

 other hand Whip-poor-wills almost invariably 

 light on the ground, and seldom in a bush. 

 If the Widow roosts in trees this would ac- 

 count for the great difficulty of finding one. 

 Audubon says it roosts in hollow trees wliich 

 would also increase its chances of eluding ob- 

 servation. I have no doubt the bird nests in 

 this section as it is a regular summer visitor 

 about half as common as the Whip-poor-will, 

 but I have never found the eggs. 



C. S. lirhnlpi/. 

 Riileijrh. N. <". 



Birds of Chester County, Penn. 



Criticisms. 

 Editor O. <k O.: 



I have examined with considerable interest 

 the list entitled "Birds of Chester County, Pa.," 

 by C. B. Ressel of Ercildoun. Pa., just com- 



pleted in the September O. & 0., and while the 

 bulk of the list is seemingly correct it con- 

 tains some extraordinary statements concern- 

 ing the breeding of certain species within our 

 county that are undoubtedly wrong. 



Had the author consulted any of the stand- 

 ard works on ornithology he would have found 

 that the summer habitat of such species as the 

 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher {Empidonax fiaviven- 

 trls), Lincoln's Sparrow {Meloapizu lincolnii), 

 Nashville Warbler {Helnilnthophila riificapiUa), 

 Bhukburnian Warbler {Dendroica bldckburnice), 

 and Water Thrush {Seiurus noveboracensitt), 

 was given as from Northern United States 

 northward, excepting where elevated regions 

 occur to the southward, such as the Adiron- 

 dacks and Catskill Mountains, wliere a portion 

 of them at least are found throughout the 

 breeding season, associated with numerous 

 species belonging to the Canadian fauna. 

 But as Chester County nowhere offers such 

 favorable, elevated areas as these species de- 

 mand in this latitude, we must consider the 

 instances named of their occurrence here as 

 the result of a wrong identification. 



The American Bittern {liotauruH lentiginotfUH), 

 Red-shouldered Hawk (liuteo lineutui<), Least 

 Flycatcher {Empidonax minimum), liose- 

 breasted Grosbeak ([labia ladoricianns), (iol- 

 den-winged Warbler (Jleliuinfliopliila chrijsop- 

 tera), Parula Warbler {('(»ui).'<(>fhlyj)is aiuerird- 

 Hrt), Pine Warbler (Dendroica cifjor.tii), Prairie 

 Warbler (Dendroica discolor), Louisiana Water 

 Thrush (Seiurus motacilla), Hooded Warbler 

 (Sylvania mitrata), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 

 (Polioptila ccerulea), and Wilson's Thrush (Tar- 

 dus fuscescens), are also found breeding in this 

 county, according to Mr. Ressel. 



The fact that I have for the last twenty 

 years given considerable attention to the nest- 

 ing habits of our birds, would not alone, per- 

 haps, justify me in criticizing that portion of 

 the list that includes tlie last named species, as 

 regular breeders here. But I found on careful 

 inquiry among those who liave had equal or 

 better opportunities for studying our bird life, 

 tliat all join me in saying that no authentic in- 

 stances of the nesting of any of these species 

 within tlie limits of Chester County has been 

 recorded up to the present time. 



The fact however that some of them are 

 known to breed in adjacent and similar terri- 

 tory, bring it within the range of possibility 

 that tliey may yet be found here, though such 

 discoveries are not likely to fall to the lot of 

 any one individual. Tlios. H. Jacl-son. 



West Chester, Chester Co., Pa.. Ort. 19, ISSfi. 



