Bird-Life at Catoxen 



BY WITMER STONE 



The bird-life immediately about our cabin is not materially 

 different from that of any rich woodland in the lower Delaware 

 Valley, but from the fact that when we are there we live right 

 with the birds instead of visiting them casually in their wood- 

 land retreat, they always seem much more abundant and much 

 tamer. 



The Wood Thrush and Ovenbird are perhaps the most char- 

 acteristic species, and the woods fairly ring with their music 

 during May and June. To one who is sleeping in a bunk close 

 under the eaves the song of the Wood Thrush, which perches 

 on the corner of the roof just outside, is almost ear-splitting. I 

 never realized before what a volume of sound the bird pro- 

 duced, and when joined with the crescendo of the Ovenbird, as 

 he walks over our front porch, any serious thought of early 

 morning sleep, even should we be so inclined, is out of the 

 question. Of other birds which come close to the cabin, there 

 is the Phoebe, which often nests under the porch roof, the 

 Humming-bird and Acadian Flycatcher, which have built their 

 dainty nests over the path leading down to our spring. The 

 Crows one year built in one of the tall pines which shelter us, 

 and last season the Cardinals built in a little thicket of black 

 birches within twenty-five feet of the back door. Maryland 

 Yellowthroats, Chats, Tanagers, Black and White Warblers, 

 Catbirds, Carolina Wrens, Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Tits, 

 Crested Flycatchers and Red-eyed Vireos are common nesting 

 species in the woods, while all along the stream the White-eyed 

 Vireos and Yellow Warblers abound and an occasional Green 

 Heron or Kingfisher may be seen. Blue Jays and Carolina 

 Chickadees are present at all seasons, but are most charac- 



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