34 6 



General Notes. [£|J 



The Hudsonian Chickadee (Pari/s kudsonicus), Red-breasted Nut- 

 hatch (Sitta canadensis), and Golden-crowned Kinglet (Pcgi/lus satrapa") 

 in Plymouth County, Mass., in Summer. — While walking through some 

 dense old-growth pine woods (Pinus strobus and P. rigida,) on June 5, 

 1896, I was greeted by the snarl chee-de-e-e-e-e-ah of a Hudson Bay Tit- 

 mouse. In a few moments the bird, which was apparently alone, alighted 

 within a few feet of me on a dead pine, and spent some time in exploring 

 the cavities of a broken limb, from which he drew several lively white 

 larvae, one of them so large that it was swallowed with seeming difficulty 

 but evident relish. The characteristic note was frequently uttered while 

 feeding, but was sometimes shortened to dee-e-e*e-yak . The bird then 

 flew to a high pitch pine, and I did not see him again, though I beard him 

 several times. 



The woods in which I saw the Chickadee were onlv a few rods from a 

 large cedar swamp, said to he a couple of miles wide, which is seldom 

 visited except by lumbermen in winter; and in many portions the original 

 growth of huge white cedars (Cupressus thyoides) and hemlock (Abies 

 canadensis} has never been cut. in this old timber one seems to be in 

 northern Maine or New r Hampshire, instead of in Massachusetts; — the 

 subdued half twilight of the damp cool forest, with its rocks and fallen 

 trees, covered with a rich carpet of green moss and ferns might well tempt 

 this and other northern birds to make it their summer home. 



I saw nothing more of the Chickadee however; but throughout June 

 and July Brown Creepers (Certkia familiaris americana") were quite often 

 seen in the swamp; the Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosns) outnum- 

 bered the smaller Downy {D. fubcscens) ; and at least two pairs of 

 Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa~) spent the summer, newly 

 fledged young being noted during the first week in August. One, and I 

 think several, pairs of Red-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) evi- 

 dently nested here also, though I failed to find the nest; and fresh 'peck- 

 holes', as well as the local lumbermen, testified to the presence of the 

 Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophhvus pi/eatus) during the past year 1 . — Arthur 

 P. CHADBOURNE, M. D., Boston, Mass. 



1 In Massachusetts, the Hudsonian Chickadee has been recorded only dur- 

 ing the winter and early spring. 



Although the Brown Creeper, "has been twice found nesting in eastern 

 Massachusetts and once at Springfield, its normal summer range is limited very 

 strictly to the Canadian fauna. It breeds regularly on Mt. Graylock in western 

 Massachusetts" (Brewster, in Minot's Birds of New England, second edition, 

 1895, p. 66). 



Regulus satrapa has been found breeding "in the higher portions of Berk- 

 shire and Worcester Counties, Massachusetts. A single well-authenticated 

 nest has been taken at Lynn, Massachusetts " (Brewster, loc. cit., p. 52). 



Sitta canadensis, like the Kinglet, breeds in " Berkshire and Worcester 

 Counties, Mass." (Brewster, loc. cit., p. 64). 



The Pileated Woodpecker is now so unusual in eastern Massachusetts as to 

 be almost a straggler. 



