552 Eifrig, Haunts of Cairns' Warbler. [bet. 



beauties of this charming region; it winds through fine woods, 

 showing quite a different type of vegetation from the prairies 

 around Chicago, then it runs along the hillsides giving one glimpses 

 of small farms, changing off with tamarack, spruce and alder 

 swamps in the valley, and beyond that, line upon line of the 

 peculiar long-drawn out hills and mountains of the Alleghanies, 

 stretching out to the horizon in bewildering fashion, until lost in 

 blue haze. The shallow valleys here are from 2000 to 2400 feet 

 above sea-level; the surveyor's plug before my host's house at 

 Accident shows 2395 feet, while the highest hill nearby, Georges 

 Hill, is marked 3004 feet. To a westerner this will seem a negli- 

 gible elevation, but it is here enough to produce Canadian condi- 

 tions of climate; just a little lower down along the stream valleys 

 are of course distinctly southerly conditions, producing an over- 

 lapping and odd intermingling of Canadian and Carolinian faunae 

 and florae, an eldorado for the nature-lover and naturalist. As 

 there is also an abundance of pure, cool air, and a dearth of mos- 

 quitoes, it is at the same time an ideal region for the tired vaca- 

 tionist from the large cities. 



To see what changes, if any, would be observable here since my 

 former rambles over this region, and to add new species, if possible 

 to my list of 'Birds of Allegany and Garret Counties' (Auk, 

 Vol. XXI, pp. 234-250; XXXII, p. 108, etc), the next month 

 was spent in tramping over the hills and prowling through the 

 ravines and thickets of this section, and through those of the 

 neighborhood of Cumberland, Allegany County. In company 

 with a friend, who is at once a mountaineer, keen observer and 

 student of nature, I would set out early in the morning and return 

 in the evening tired and bedraggled, but happy. 



In the cool, dark ravines along the brooks, as well as on the 

 mountain tops, where a primeval stand of tall white pine, black 

 spruce and hemlock is still found in a few places, and where the 

 rhododendron flourishes, is the favorite habitat of Cairns' Warbler 

 (Dcndroica c. cairnsi). In my last communication on this region 

 (Auk, XXXII, pp. 108-110), I had expressed my conviction that 

 this subspecies should be eliminated from the ' Check-List' as 

 indistinguishable from D. c. caerulescens, but I am now "fully 

 persuaded. " The females are more distinguishable than the 



