280 Young, Birds of the Coal Regions of Pennsylvania. q" 



k 



Oct 



of chestnut and oak in some places, which in others gives way to 

 the pitch pine, while scrub oaks and blueberry vines form a thick 

 undergrowth. 



In many places dead trees and stumps form convenient nest- 

 ing-sites for House Wrens, Crested Flycatchers and Flickers. 

 These birds are more numerous in such localities than elsewhere, 

 the merry song of the House Wren in particular being heard on 

 every side, while the Towhee and Chestnut-sided Warbler are 

 also most characteristic species. 



Besides the Schuylkill River the principal streams of the region 

 visited are Black and Nescopeck Creeks. The former, which is 

 a stream of thirteen miles in length, has its source in the mine 

 streams of Hazelton and empties into the Lehigh River at Penn 

 Haven Junction, falling in its course 800 or 1000 feet. From 

 Weatherly the stream flows through a deep, narrow gorge with 

 the hills rising almost perpendicularly on either side, some 300 

 feet. Some little hemlock growth covers these hills while along the 

 stream are found a few wild cherry trees together with some pine, 

 aspen, and birch. 



From Tomhicken the Nescopeck Creek flows to the west join- 

 ing the east branch of the Susquehanna at Nescopeck. Along the 

 hills between which it flows there is also a considerable growth of 

 hemlock and a few white pines. There is also some little hem- 

 lock near Pottsville. 



Along the edges of the streams in the lower parts of the coun- 

 try, as at Pottsville and Weatherly, the rhododendron grows in 

 wild profusion in the denser woods, in soma places forming almost 

 impenetrable thickets, while the laurel seems more abundant on 

 the open hillsides and is not restricted so much to the lower 

 valleys. 



One of the most characteristic birds of these rhododendron 

 thickets near Pottsville is the Hooded Warbler, which may be 

 heard singing occasionally quite late in August. The distribution 

 of this species seems worthy of note. Occurring as a common 

 summer resident in the swamps of southern New Jersey, it is 

 not found, so far as I know, anywhere in the vicinity of Philadel- 

 phia, except as a rare migrant, and then appears rather com- 

 monly along the Blue Ridge and near Pottsville. 



