Summer Birds of New Hampshire. 5 



A PARTIAL LIST OF THE SUMMER BIRDS OF 

 HOLDERNESS, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



BY ARTHUR C. COMEY. 



The town of Holderness lies on the west shore of Squam 

 Lake (or Lake Asquam), in almost the geographical center of 

 the state of New Hampshire. It is divided naturally by the 

 Squam Range and Little Squam Lake into three sections. I 

 made the following observations in the area between the ridge 

 of the Squam Range (elevation 2100 ft.) and Squam Lake 

 (elevation 510 ft.), with my headquarters at Camp Algonquin, 

 on the shore of the lake. Notes were taken during the months 

 of July and August, 1899, igoo, 1901, and 1903, but chiefly 

 in the latter season, which also included the last five days of 

 June and the first four days of September. 



The shores of the lake are for the most part quite low, but 

 rocky, with occasional narrow sand-beaches, and are covered 

 with rather young woods of mixed growth, with here and 

 there a grove of pine or hemlock. Nearly all of the farm- 

 houses are situated on the "old road," which in most places is 

 about a half-mile from the lake. Between these and the new 

 road, not far from the shore, there are overgrown pastures and 

 maple groves, with open fields near the houses. Back from 

 the old road are mountain pastures and birch woods, stretching 

 up to the almost bare top of Squam Range, about a mile away. 

 Most of the marsh-birds were seen at Bennett's Creek, which 

 meanders through a meadow into Bennett's Cove. Several 

 years ago the dam at the outlet of Squam Lake was raised so 

 that the lower end of this little plain was inundated and a lit- 

 tle lagoon was formed, with a sand-beach along the shore. 

 According to Mr. Faxon, in the introduction to his Holder- 

 ness list (The Auk, Vol. V., p. 149), the locality lies "near 

 the border of the Alleghanian and Canadian Avifaunse, al- 

 though decidedly Alleghanian in its general character." 



The list includes six species recorded as migrants only, and 

 eighty-seven summer residents. The sixty-five species re- 

 corded by Mr. Faxon (June 4-12, 1885, and June 4-1 1, 1886) 

 are starred. 



