1889-90.] ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT. 47 



31. Disappearance of Forest Birds, etc.— Hon. Charles Clarke 

 writes ine from Elora on the disappearance of Ectopistes migrato- 

 rim, Mclanerpes erythrocephalus, and on the advance of Dolichonyo: oryzi- 

 vorus^ Gorviis americanus and other species, as follows : " April 27th, 

 1885, — Our woods, alas ! are rapidly disappearing and with them many 

 of our summer visitors. There are young men here who have never seen 

 a Wild Pigeon, and some to whom the Red-headed Woodpecker is a 

 rare if not an unknown bird. The Bobolink, however, has increased 

 largely with us since the disappearance of the forests ; as also have the 

 Crows and Blackbirds within the last few years. The English Sparrows, 

 too, have greatly multiplied in our village, but have not yet extended to 

 the farms in the neighborhood." — Eknest E. Thompson, 1885. 



32. Nesting of the Oerthia familiaris americana. — The Brown 

 Creeper has been observed in our wild-woods nearly every month 

 in the year. Its general habitat is the low swampy woodland where 

 there is an intermingling of evergreen with black ash timber. Here, 

 also, it selects its nesting place. This is usually in some old black 

 ash stub, where the sniall flakes of bark have become partly detached 

 from the trunk and cm'led up and which frequently projects far enough to 

 afford the required room for the nest. I have, on several occasions and 

 in different places seen its nesting place, but only in one instance have I 

 taken its nest with eggs. This was in the early part of May, 1878, 

 at which time I was out in North Wallace on a farm where I had previ- 

 ously resided for a number of years, when 1 observed a pair of these birds 

 busily engjiged at nest-building. The place was on the margin of a 

 beaver meadow, and the nesting site between a piece of liark and the 

 trunk of a hemlock tree, nearly twenty feet from the ground. The 

 female collected and placed in position all the material oi' the nest, but 

 her partner seemed to think that he was giving her much assistance by 

 following her to and from the nesting place and running up and around 

 the trees and old logs from which she collected the materials, at the same 

 time warbling his little ditty in a pleasing manner. Rough pieces of 

 cedar bark formed the foundation of the nest, then dry fibrous woody 

 matter composed the main part of the structure, whicii was completed by 

 a warm lining of hair. Some ten days afterwards I again visited the 

 place, but had some difficulty in reaching the nest, the lower part of the 

 tree having been scorched bj fire, and the bark peeled oft' the year 

 before. On getting up to the desired spot the bird flushed out, and I 

 found in the nest six eggs which I took, and in preparing them ascer- 

 tained that incubation was considerably advanced. One egg was broken, 

 the other five are in my collection. The ground color of the eggs is 



