ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. lS-Xn.4 



Tree Sparrows for Junco hyemalis since 

 November 12. 



Screech Owls are very abundant ; the bulk 

 seen and reported are in the grey phase of 

 plumage. 



Pine Grosbeaks are in abundance ; I have 

 never recorded them here in such numbers 

 before. First seen December 7, a single 

 female feeding on a big white-ash ; next 

 record December 19th, a flock of six, four fine 

 red males and two females. Since December 

 1 9, flocks of from eight to fifty noted daily. 

 Grateful indeed I am for ample opportunity 

 for observations on these beautiful birds ; 

 the first sound I hear as I step out into the 

 frosty morning air is their pleasant notes, 

 and I am sure to find flocks every morning 

 feeding on the juice of crab-apple trees near 

 the house, or over in the tangle along the 

 river ; later they feed on the ash, maple and 

 tamarack. 



Why may we not have the Morning 

 Grosbeak ? Surely he is a bird of the morn- 

 ing, with all the rosy tints of the eastern sky 

 reproduced in his plumage. 



The closing week of December was par- 

 ticularly cold, still and bright, from zero to 

 se\en below every morning, and the forests 

 covered thick with hard frost which sparkles 

 like millions of diamonds in the morning 

 sunlight. Bubo virginiainis makes the 

 most of the lovely moonlight and goes court- 

 ing every night, and, judging from the notes 

 which issue from the woods, his suit is 

 received with favor. Behold a change as 

 we cross the threshold of the new year ; a 

 perfect downpour of rain during the after- 

 noon and night of January ist, snow about 

 all disappears, and the ice goes out of the 

 creeks. 



A flock of four Ducks made us a flying 

 New Year's call January 2 ; species not posi- 

 tively determined, probably Red-breasted 

 Mergansers. It soon grows colder and to- 

 day we are back at zero weather. 



BciijaDihi ILiag. 

 January 4th, 1893. 



Some Holiday Trips. 



(Continued.) 



Our next find of any importance was a 

 nest of the Hairy Woodpecker, also contain- 

 ing young — four in number ; two were males 

 and two females, the former showing the red 

 on the head very plainly, even at this early 

 age. The nest was only 2j4 feet from the 

 ground, in a hole in a living oak. The 

 growth in the immediate vicinity was very 

 much stunted, the land being mainly pine 

 barrens, sand lots and scrub oak tracts, and 

 this may account for the fact of the nesting 

 site being at such a low altitude, although it 

 doesn't explain why the birds chose .such a 

 locality. 



We found two remarkable sets of Balti- 

 more Oriole's eggs on this trip — one of two 

 and the other of six, in both of which incu- 

 bation was advanced. It seemed a peculiar 

 coincidence that we should secure our small- 

 est and our largest set the same day within 

 a few miles of each other. 



-X- 



May 30, 1890, found me again tramping 

 over the fields and woods about Lake Cirove, 

 this time with quite different experiences in 

 some respects, but less luck on the whole 

 than in 1889. 



The Mourning Dove, which we had found 

 quite abundant the previous year, were only 

 fairly so on this trip, but we found a long- 

 looked for nest. It was about eight feet 

 from the ground in the first crotch of a good- 

 sized pine which stood on a well-wooded 

 hillside. It was made of grasses and con- 

 tained two fresh eggs. The bird left the 

 nest and disappeared with great celerity. 



It seems a little strange that we have never 

 found the nest of this bird before, for we 

 have traversed the pines in this locality 

 pretty thoroughly for a number of years, 

 and the nest is said to be easy to find. I 

 don't remember of ever having seen a Dove 

 in the pines before ; they are very wild, and 

 it is almost impossible to shoot them except 



