556 Eifrig, Haunts of Cairns' Warbler. [o"t! 



Bewick's Wren, where they heard that bird's song all the time 

 and learned it instead of their own. We met with no Bewicks 

 this time, but a few are here, at least were until lately. The 

 House Wren is increasing in numbers, and very probably Mr. 

 Ridgway is correct when he says that the House Wren drives out 

 Bewick's Wren. The colony of Winter Wrens, which we dis- 

 covered in 1914 on Negro Mountain, was no longer there. Grass- 

 hopper Sparrows are common in alfalfa and timothy fields, as are 

 the Towhees in the brushy second growth on the hills. 



The most interesting member of the finch tribe here is the 

 Carolina Junco, which also seems to me to be growing less common. 

 Still it can not be called rare. It is equally distributed over the 

 rocky slopes and tops of mountains, as well as in mossy hemlock 

 stands, but not below about 2500 feet. Families of old and young 

 were seen, the young being heavily streaked on the breast, some- 

 thing like young Chipping Sparrows. While watching the noisy 

 antics of a pair of Ovenbirds on the road to Negro Mountayi, a 

 Junco dropped out of her nest in an invisible pocket in the low 

 bank, opposite where a road had been cut along the hillside. 

 The nest under overhanging roots and moss contained three eggs 

 in the morning, in the afternoon, when I returned, only two, 

 so I took it along. The nest, made of moss, lichen and a few 

 plant stems on the outside and rootlets and horse hair on the in- 

 side, measures five inches in diameter, the cup two and three 

 quarter by one and a half inches deep. The eggs are pale bluish, 

 with a wreath of pale lavender and brown spots near the thicker 

 end, much like those of J. h. hyemalis in Canada. These pockets 

 in low or higher banks along wood roads are characteristic nesting 

 places, also for the northern form and the nest would rarely be 

 found, if the owners would not drop out of them and fly away at 

 one's approach. I never found a nest on the level, chestnut- 

 covered tops of the mountains. The song of the southern form is 

 more sonorous and alto than that of the northern, it sounds much 

 like the second part of the song of the Towhee. They breed twice 

 in a season. 



Of the woodpeckers we saw a few Hairy, Downy, and Red- 

 headed, also Flickers and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. The Pil- 

 eated and Redhead are decreasing in numbers. Mr. F. Burk- 



