18 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



looked diligently in June on drift heaps on the margin and on 

 the trees that had rotted off and fallen when the dam-breast was 

 in repair and the dam full of water. It was not until ]Mr. Stone 

 came up for a day in August that I learned that the Solitary 

 Sandpiper nested in old birds' nests in trees * and that by my 

 ignorance I had possibly missed a rare find. What a walk I 

 had with Stone on August 11! It was a day of soaking drizzle 

 but that did not matter, for Stone's taking me bogging would 

 have gotten me almost as wet on a rainless day. In the swamp 

 to which he took me, way up under the edge of the huckleberry 

 barrens, we made a rare find. The swamp was full of birds, 

 Swamp Sparrows and others not uncommon in such places in 

 the region, but a number of small flycatchers bothered us. 

 Neither of us had ever seen Alder Flycatchers in the field, but 

 here were small flycatchers that were not Acadian Flycatchers 

 or Chebecs and that answered very nearly to descriptions and 

 looked like skins of Alder Flycatchers. They were not wild at 

 first, and we got several good looks at them. A distinguishing 

 feature was the disclosure of grayish-white as they flew. I had 

 been in this swamp several times before in June and July and 

 I had not seen the flycatchers there nor did I see others like 

 them afterwards. We had seen them in alder bushes too. 



There were interesting birds other than the Solitary Sandpiper 

 in Gravel's Swamp. Scores of the water-killed trees still stood 

 and in their rotting trunks scores of Woodpeckers had drilled 

 out their nests. I was disappointed at not finding the Fileated 

 Woodpecker here, for I had seen one at Buck Hill in September, 

 1903, and I thought this swamp was near enough to the large 

 timber northward to make it possible for the logcocks to come 

 here. The only two woodpeckers I found nesting in the swamp 

 were the Flicker and the Hairy Woodpecker. But in old wood- 

 peckers' holes I found Bluebirds and Wrens nesting, three pairs 

 of Bluebirds and two pairs of Wrens. I suppose it was in such 

 places they nested before Europeans came here to tempt them 

 by boxes and gourds to the homeyard. Here in the swamp 

 were many Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows, and along its 



*Cf. Raine, Ottawa Nat., XVII I., p. 135. 



