166 



THE OOLOGIST 



in habited sections, from the upper 

 United States, northward. 



The Flambeau River is used exten- 

 sively for floating logs, and like many 

 of these northern streams, is excell- 

 ent for trout fishing. About the edges 

 of the tim'ber and in the wild berry 

 bushes, in rather open situations, the 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler was almo-t as 

 conspicuous as our summer Yellow- 

 bird in Illinois. Shaded portions of 

 the second growth timber seemed fair- 

 ly well populated with the vivacious 

 Red Start, and his notes were inter- 

 mingled with the peculiar tell-tale 

 song of the Oven Bird. 



I was working with both hands to 

 ward off the ever present mosquitoes, 

 and as I passed among a dense growth 

 of ferns, adjoining the blue-berry 

 marsh, a Peabody bird. White- 

 crowned Sparrow, hopped to a 

 dead limb aind chirped saucily. I 

 parted the vegetation and found five 

 extremely handsome eggs of this 

 large sparrow, in a nest imbedded in 

 the long green moss. 



In my efforts to follow a Ruffed 

 Grouse, who had been '•drumming" at 

 early morn cm a poplar ridge, I at- 

 tempted to locate the female. Pro- 

 gress was very laborious for this pari 



fthe timber contained many fallen 

 tree trunks piled cross-wise, four to 

 ten feet high. A Canadian Warbler 

 flitted from beneath the fallen hranch- 

 es ten feet ahead and from the way 

 he moved about twittering nervously, 



1 felt tempted to search for the mate, 

 although the verdure was very dense. 

 I moved about on my knees for half 

 an hour and finally parted the green 

 fern stems on the bank of a little ra- 

 vine only to discover that I had put 

 my hand on the mother bird who was 

 incubating five of her delicately 

 speckled eggs. 



Slate-colored Juncos, Yellow-bellied 

 Sap Suckers, Magnolia Warblers, 

 •Scarlet Tanagers and Chimney Swifts 



were all breeding in the heavy timber 

 which was composed of spruce, hem- 

 lock, pine, cedar, balsam, tamarack, 

 maple and elm. In two instances I 

 noticed the male Rose-breasted Gros- 

 beaks sitting on nests. Several Brown 

 Creepers were in evidence, and I ob- 

 served one Arctic Three-toed Wood- 

 1 crker. The Vlrecs were always in ev- 

 idence, particularly the Warbling and 

 Red-eye varieties. 



In the afternoon, I was strolling 

 leisurely near a lake of considerable 

 size, my eyes were attracted by a 

 Mourning Warbler as he moved about 

 among the swamp grass and reeds in 

 a manner typical of our Yellow-throat. 



Suspended from a horizontal limh 

 of a wild plum tree at a height of ten 

 feet above the ground was a new Vir- 

 eo's nest that I could look into, when 

 standin gon a fallen log. The nest 

 contained but a single freshly laid 

 egg. I visited this nest several times 

 at subsequent dates, and on each oc- 

 casion found a pair of Philadelphia 

 Vireos in possession of this domicile. 

 Either of the birds sitting om the nest 

 showed no suspicion at my approach, 

 and would allow me to touch them 

 before vacating their treasures. This 

 nest contained three eggs, when the 

 birds commenced to incubate. 



The Olive-back and Wood Thrushes 

 were about equally distributed and 

 both were partial to extremely thick 

 places where a little sunshine reach- 

 ed the earth. The beautiful Black- 

 burnia.n Warbler could be seen glean- 

 ing about the foliage where the 

 thrushes had their nests. In a springy 

 soil frequented by the red deer, I se- 

 cured my first clutch of Water 

 Thrush. The eggs were imbedded in 

 the deer moss on a little embankment 

 dampened by a spring pool. 



One of the first birds that I became 

 acquainted with was the Black-throat- 

 ed Blue Warbler. The song of the male 



