1915 J General Notes. 109 



narrow gauge had laid low some extensive stands of primeval spruce and 

 hemlock, the country was little changed, the same fine ah, the same dearth 

 of mosquitoes, so welcome to the tired vacationist, the same mountains, 

 which are here low and easy to get over, since the whole country is high. 

 Thus George's Hill is the second-highest point in Maryland, 3004 ft. above 

 sea-level, yet it is only 500 to 800 ft. higher than the adjoining lower land. 

 The mountains nearly all run in long parallel ridges from southwest to 

 northeast, the usually low depressions between some of them, are the 

 glades, formerly the home of innumerable flocks of Wild Turkeys and 

 Ruffed Grouse, of deer, panthers, bears and catamounts. The best known 

 of these long mountains near Accident are Negro and Meadow Mountains. 

 On the former the writer spent many delightful though laborious hours or 

 days on former and on the present visit. 



Knowing full well the psychological and other reasons against the relia- 

 bility of testimony of this kind, I would say that the Magnolia Warbler 

 ( Dendroica magnolia) has somewhat increased in numbers as compared 

 to twelve years ago. On July 7, Mr. F. Burkhard, a keen nature lover and 

 observer of Accident, and the writer saw and heard about fifteen to twenty 

 males; no doubt some males were not singing at this time of the year, it 

 being an extremely warm day besides. They were found in the stands of 

 primeval spruce and hemlock, which fortunately the lumbermen have so 

 far not been able to secure, as well as on the crest of the mountain, where 

 chestnut is the prevailing tree, interspersed with here and there a few 

 spruce and hemlock. In the same kind of places the Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler ( D. c. cwndescens not cairnsi), and the Black-throated Green 

 ( D. virens) are found, both in about the same numbers as formerly; the 

 former also descends into the rhododendron thickets of gullies lower 

 down. The Carolina Junco {Junco h. carolinensis) is found in the open 

 scraggy growth of chestnut along the flat and rocky crest of the mountain. 

 Here the Pileated Woodpecker (Phlaeolomus p. abieticola), the Scarlet 

 Tanager and the Crested Flycatcher hold forth in undiminished numbers, 

 also the Red-tailed Hawk and the Turkey Buzzard, while from the sides 

 comes the bell-like chorus of Veery ( Hylocichla f. fuscescens) and Wood 

 Thrushes. One or two of the Turkey Buzzards seemed to follow us about 

 for hours over the mountain; they probably had their young near by, as 

 there is no lack of large hollow logs and cracks and crevices in the rocks, 

 here and there piled up in huge masses, as if by titans. Canadian and 

 Chestnut-sided Warblers (Wilsonia canadensis and D. pensylvanica) are 

 found in bushy places, grown up with second growth deciduous trees and 

 shrubs, the former has a fondness for wet places in such areas, usually very 

 thickly grown over. A surprise awaited us in a depression between Negro 

 and Meadow Mountains, half way between Bittinger and Accident. There 

 is some fine tall spruce and hemlock, so thick that no direct sunlight reaches 

 the ground, which is covered with rhododendron, many northerly species 

 of plants, and some upturned roots of spruce. I was just about to remark, 

 " If this were in Canada, we should now hear a Winter Wren," — the moss- 



