38 



THE MUSEUM. 



ural, that apparatus does to physical 

 science, and deserve the same care. 

 Charles Le Roy Wheeler, 



Prompton, Pa. 



A Trip to Fauquier Co.* Virginia; 



With Notes on the Specimens 



Obtained- 



On the 14th of June, 1899, I left 

 Providence, R. I., for a little spot 

 about fifty miles west of Washington 

 City, in the Bull Run mountains of 

 Virginia. In the summer of '98 I vis- 

 ited in this locality and I knew it to 

 be a good country for collecting. 



I reached my destination in the eve- 

 ning of the next day and was warmly 

 welcomed at the pretty little cottage 

 of Mr. White who was to be my host 

 during the few weeks that I could 

 spend in this paradise for a lover of 

 nature. The cottage is situated a 

 short way up on the mountain side 

 and is really shut in on three sides by 

 the slopes of the mountains, so that 

 on all these sides there is, in summer, a 

 continuous bank of dense green foliage. 

 The exposed side gives us a' glimpse of 

 the surrounding country, including a 

 bit of the railroad and a stone mill. 



This country is but little worked 

 over by collectors. In 1898 when I 

 was in the same district for two 

 months I did not hear of a single spec- 

 imen of the genus "collector" Nat- 

 urally with so few people to bother 

 them birds are quite abundant anJ the 

 same is true of specimens in other 

 branches of the animal kingdom. 



There is a small stream of water, 

 "run" they call it, which passes 

 through their district and the banks of 

 this stream fairly team with animal 

 life. There are all kinds of wooded 

 and brush patches on the mountain 

 sides and at the very top of the moun- 

 tain on which Mr. White's cottage 

 (Bee Cottage I shall call it hereafter) 

 is situated is a huge pile of boulders 

 called "Buzzard's Peak." This rock 

 pile is the breeding place for numer- 

 ous turkey buzzards and in its crev- 



ices many a wary fox has made his 

 lair. 



I had come prepared to collect 

 specimens of all kinds but it was not 

 my intention on this trip to do any 

 great amount of collecting. I wanted 

 rather to ramble around, get better 

 acquainted with the country and peo- 

 ple and while doing this to pick up 

 more or less material for my collec- 

 tion. I had my camera along also 

 and "took" many a pretty bit of scen- 

 ery. 



Many people seem to have a very 

 wrong idea of the climate of our south- 

 ern states and of the South as a whole. 

 I have been in Fauquier Co. , Virginia, 

 all the summer months and I have sel- 

 dom found it as hot there as at my 

 home in Providence, R. I. Then too 

 I have worn a medium weight sweater 

 at the equator without finding it un- 

 comfortable. Perhaps I should ex- 

 plain that this last experience was at 

 the Galapagos Islands which possess a 

 cooler climate than most equatorial 

 countries. The climate of the Bull 

 Run mountains is generally very pleas- 

 ant. If there is any breeze you are 

 almost sure to get it at Bee Cottage. 

 There is a difference of several de- 

 grees in temperature between the cot- 

 tage on the mountain side and the 

 railroad station which is located in a 

 gap between two mountains only a 

 mile distant. 



The first two days I spent in getting 

 settled. On the morning of the next, 

 one of Mr. White's daughters came 

 into the house to inform me that there 

 was a "peckerwood" in a tree in the 

 yard. I immediately took my gun 

 and went out to investigate thinking 

 that perhaps it was a Pileolated Wood- 

 pecker, a bird I wanted to obtain. I 

 was mistaken, however, for instead of 

 a Pileolated It was a Hairy Wood- 

 pecker which was pecking away in- 

 dustriously in the topmost branches of 

 a large locust tree that stood very near 

 the house. I shot it and made up its 

 skin soon after, this making my first 

 capture. 



