38 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 3 



A Trip to Tolchester Beach. 



On May 30, 1891, my brotlier and I took tlie 

 Steamer Louise, which leaves here for a 

 pleasure resort on the Eastern shore of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, called Tolchester Beach. We took 

 our rifles with us in order to shoot some frogs 

 but our cliief aim was to find some bird's eggs. 

 My brother took a fine set of Fish Hawk's 

 down there last year, but on reaching the nest 

 we found some one or the wind had torn it 

 down. Another nest we found w'as in a hirge 

 sycamore tree, and inaccessible. I think it 

 liad eggs in it as we could see the okl bird 

 looking over the edge of the nest. 



Our first find was a set of four Spotted 

 Sandpiper's, wliicli my brother took on the 

 bay sliore about 100 yards from the wharf. I 

 scored tlie next point with a nest of three 

 young Green Herons. Xext I flushed a Tow- 

 hee on the edge of the woods, and going to 

 the place where she got up found a nest with 

 two young ones just hatched. 



Leaving the woods we took to the bay sliore 

 again and looked into some Bank Swallows' 

 nests. I took a set of seven fresh eggs and 

 another of five. My brother took a set of six. 

 I also found a Belted Kingfisher's nest in the 

 same bank, but as we could hear the young 

 ones in it did not attempt to dig it out. 



I waded into a small cat-tail swamp, about 

 one-quarter of an acre in extent, in which I 

 found a dozen or more Red-winged Blackbirds' 

 nests, most of which contained from one to 

 three eggs, but some were empty. Just as I 

 was leaving the wet ground I found a set of 

 six King Rail's, my first find of this species. 

 The nest was a platform of broken bits of the 

 cat tail placed flat on the ground, and was 

 not hollowed as much as the Clapper Rail's 

 nest. Tliis was our last find for the day, as we 

 had to hurry back to catch the boat for home. 

 Later on, June 15th, when I was down there 

 again, I thought I would take another look at 

 the nest. Wading into the marsh I found the 

 old one, and not more than six feet from it 

 was a new nest of the same species with ten 

 fresh eggs, which soon found their way into 

 my l)Ox. Wm. 11. Fisher. 



Kaltunore. Md. 



Bird Notes of Northern New Jersey. 



I have never noticed any record of birds 

 singing on their nests. One of our best field 

 ornithologists, and a great observer of nature. 



says no birds sing on their nests. Three years 

 ago I heard the sweet song of the AVhite-eyed 

 Vireo. It often proceeded from one tree that 

 I frequently peeped under. As it sounded 

 from one particular spot I stopped several 

 times to discover the vocalist. I was rewarded 

 by seeing its nest about thirteen feet from the 

 ground, on an outer branch of the maple, well 

 concealed by leaves. It happened that the 

 nest was just below an upper window of a 

 barn; by taking a place by the window I could 

 see plainly into the nest. I took the position 

 at the window several days, an hour at a time. 

 I saw the male Vireo singing the entire time 

 he was on the nest with his full song. 

 Another singular trait I noticed was the rest- 

 lessness of the pair; for they changed ijosi- 

 tion at the incubating duties every fifteen or 

 twenty minutes, the male singing almost 

 continuously, whether on or off the nest. I 

 watclied them feed their young, and only took 

 their nest after the family had moved ouf. 



The first American Goldfinch's nest I ever 

 found was betrayed to me by the female (m 

 the nest answering the male, or it might be 

 another male Goldfinch, as it flew by. The 

 male bird always utters his call note when 

 flying in summer. Hearing the hen several 

 times in the same place I found her on her 

 nest, after which I had no difficulty in finding 

 the nests of this species by their position. 



Several times I have noticed a solitaiy Cow- 

 bird {Molothru^ ater), late in autumn, after the 

 main flocks retired southward. Sometimes I 

 have seen a belated Cowbird with a flock of 

 House Sparrows in the barn-yard. On the 

 1st of January this winter I saw two, and on 

 the 8th I saw one in a flock, of Sparrows. It 

 is probable, from being of a gregarious nature, 

 the birds associate with the Sparrows from 

 seeing them in flocks. Prof. J. A. Allen tells 

 me he knew a Cowbird to stay all winter in 

 Cambridge, Mass. It is astonishing how these 

 birds, reared as they are in various other 

 birds' nests, can find each other and associate 

 in flocks. Certainly they have little affinitj' 

 with the modes of life of their foster parents, 

 many being of the Warbler or Vireo families. 

 Here it is well to observe that there is no 

 other case in natural history, at least in the 

 northern hemisphere, of birds being reared in 

 nests of foster parents, and afterwards seeking 

 each other and remaining together. 



The Cuckoos of Europe, raised the same by 

 foster parents, do not seek each other or flock 

 together. It is a very solitary bird, seldom 

 seen even two together. 



