40 THE WILSON BULLETIN— March, 1921 



invariably it proved to be the sparrow, and not the much-sought 

 warbler. On the morning of July 11 I was rambling in the woods 

 bordering the Beech Fork river, about three miles southeast of 

 Bardstown; my course led me up a small stream bordered by deep 

 thickets that extend along its banks from its confluence with the 

 river for half a mile toward its source. I was walking slowly, oc- 

 casionally gazing into the tree tops as I listened to the queer grat- 

 ing song of the Cerulean warbler. Perceiving an unknown warbler 

 that was quietly hopping about among the branches of a sycamore 

 tree, and in easy range of my collecting gun, I fired and brought 

 it down. It was an adult worm-eating warbler, the first I had ever 

 found in this locality. Though having taken the bird I was none 

 the wiser as to its song, but it was A, new species for my local list, 

 and that was some satisfaction. Charles W. Beckham lists thirty- 

 four members of the warbler family in his Birds of Nelson County, 

 but he never found the worm-eating warbler here. 



House Wren {Troglodytes aedoii)- Another new species for 

 this locality is the house wren, which was observed on two occa- 

 sions in May of this year. On the 8tli of the month I was afield in 

 one of my favorite stamping grounds about two miles southeast of 

 town; everywhere birds were singing and all voices were familiar 

 except one that seemed to come from a brush-heap at the edge of 

 a cedar thicket. I had little trouble locating the singing bird, but 

 it was some minutes before I could get a glimpse of it, so well did 

 it remain concealed in the brush. Finally it hopped to the top of 

 the pile to deliver its tinkling, bubbling, song and at once I rec- 

 ognized it as the house wren. Watching it for some time I was 

 able to get several good views of it, thereby making identification 

 certain. Four days later, May 12, I again observed a house wren, 

 in an old rail fence near a house, in the same locality. This one 

 was not singing, but from the lateness of the season I had some hopes 

 of its breeding in the neighborhood. However, nothing more was 

 seen of it and I suppose it was only a very late migrant. For many 

 years I have looked for this wren, but always my search had been 

 in vain. Bewick's wren is the species commonly breeding about 

 town, though a few pairs of the noisy Carolina wren share town 

 life with them. 



Mockingbird (Miinus pohjf/lottof; pnlj/glottos) . Ten years ago 

 this bird was one of the most common of the summer residents, 

 a few wintering. In summer every farm had one or several pairs, 

 and many nested in favorable places about town. For the past sev- 

 eral years they have been noticeably decreasing in numbers, and 

 where they were formerly numerous, the past summer they were 

 scarce or entirely absent. In looking over my field notes for the 

 past season I find that the mockingbirds seen during the summer 

 would not have represented more than three or four pairs of nest- 



