36 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. iS-No. 3 



again the next morning, after a good night's 

 rest. 



May 30 has always been a red letter day 

 with me, and while I don't think that I am 

 lacking in patriotism, still I celebrate the 

 day in a somewhat different way from the 

 mass of my fellow citizens. 



Lake Grove, a little hamlet situated in 

 the geographical centre of Long Island, is 

 my birthplace, and quite naturally my steps 

 often tend in that direction on Decoration 

 Day ; so what little scientific matter there 

 may be in this paper will relate to the bird 

 life in that locality at the season men- 

 tioned. 



As this is the only holiday during the 

 spring months, we turn our attention more 

 especially to the breeding habits of our 

 birds, and while we have had no great suc- 

 cess in obtaining eggs, still we have some 

 interesting notes and have come to the con- 

 clusion that this would be a very fruitful 

 field to work earlier in the season. 



One of the most interesting birds of this 

 section of Long Island is the Pine Warbler, 

 Detidrot'ca vigorsii, who is quite common 

 in the large tracts of pitch pine which cover 

 the more sandy parts of the island. He is 

 a very hardy bird, arriving during the first 

 days of April and remaining till October, 

 but he does not attract much attention, his 

 song being faint, his colors plain, and his 

 actions rather slow. The song much resem- 

 bles that of the Chipping Sparrow, but is 

 more "liquid and crescendo," as my note- 

 book has it. 



It was about 5 o'clock on the morning of 

 May 30, 1889, that we sallied forth from the 

 house and made our way to the pines. 



None but those who have been cooped up 

 in a dusty city for months can understand 

 fully the bliss there is in breathing the de- 

 lightfully free air of a balmy spring morning. 

 We had no sooner entered the woods than 

 we were greeted by the Pine Warbler's song, 

 which we had not heard for over a year; it 

 seemed to breathe of the sough of the pines 



and the quiet therein, and is one of the 

 most restful of songs. During the three days 

 that I stayed in the vicinity I spent consid- 

 erable time listening to these birds, watch- 

 ing their movements and searching for 

 nests ; but while I learned something of 

 their habits, I failed to discover any indica- 

 tions of breeding, except on the last day, 

 when I saw a female feeding a "mcU groxvn 

 young one. Well, I just stood in open- 

 mouthed astonishment at this, for although 

 I knew the birds arrived early, I had no 

 thought of their being able to build a nest, 

 incubate their eggs, and rear a brood of 

 young before most of our small birds have 

 laid their eggs. I was forced to conclude, 

 however, that my eyes were not deceiving 

 me and that the time to look for nests was 

 in April or the very first of May. I think 

 that, in consequence of the presence of the 

 young birds, the species must be more com- 

 mon at this date than at any other time of 

 the year. 



The birds stay well up in the trees, and 

 while they do not seem to pay the slightest 

 attention to any one who is below, still they 

 have a habit of flying from the tree just at 

 the moment one doesn't want them to, 

 oftentimes taking extended flights and again 

 only to the next tree. They cannot, how- 

 ever, be called a restles bird, for if the ob- 

 server will lie perfectly quiet they will often 

 feed in the same tree for five minutes or 

 more. 



We found our first Hummingbird's nest 

 on this trip ; it was saddled on a pine limb 

 about twelve feet above the ground. The 

 birds made no demonstration whatever at 

 our plundering of their beautiful litde 

 home. 



Having found a Sharp-shinned Hawks' 

 nest in this vicinity the previous year, I was 

 keeping my " weather eye " open for another 

 one, and while doing so I noticed an old 

 Stiuirrel's nest, well flattened out, situated in 

 a pine about 25 feet from the ground. 

 Sticking out of the nest was a pair of ears 



