466 Harlow, Breeding Birds of Center County, Pa. [oct. 



contains many errors and statements that will not stand the test 

 of true scientific questioning, although all credit is due its author 

 and much of his work is of great value. Mr. W. E. C. Todd of 

 Pittsburg made a number of observations here about 1895, but 

 with the exception of Mr. Todd and Mr. Musgrave, practically 

 no ornithological work has been done in this region until Mr. 

 Foster White and the author began their studies in 1908. The 

 previous lack of data, in many respects made the work all the more 

 pleasing for every observation was of value. 



According to Bulletin No. 10 of the Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, all of Center County lies in the 

 Alleghanian faunal area of the Transition Zone. However, since 

 that time, Mr. Samuel N. Rhoads in his "Mammals of Pennsyl- 

 vania and New Jersey" includes all of Center County northwest 

 of the Bald Eagle range, in the Canadian Zone, and all southwest 

 of this range in the Alleghanian. The truth would seem to lie 

 between the two, and the author believes that here as in other 

 sections of the Pennsylvania mountains where primeval conditions 

 are rapidly changing, we find a remarkable overlapping of faunas. 

 It is essentially a region of unexpected realities and unrealized 

 expectancies, where Canadian and Carolinian species nest side by 

 side. Here we find the Tufted Tit summering in the same ravine 

 as the Magnolia Warbler while even more striking is the sight 

 of the Acadian Flycatcher and the Canadian Warbler feeding their 

 young in neighboring bushes. Southwest of the main ridge of the 

 Alleghanies, Stone Valley, Hundington County, and Bear Meadows, 

 Center County seem to approach nearest to the typical Canadian 

 Life Zone, but even in these places many boreal species are lacking 

 and many austral species are present to disprove this statement. 



Center County occupies the very center of the state of Pennsyl- 

 vania, the 'Keystone of the Keystone' as it were, and stretches 

 away like an irregular lozenge with the oblong ends pointing north- 

 east and southwest. It is bounded on the northwest by Clearfield 

 County; on the northeast by Clinton, Union and Snyder; on the 

 south by Hundington and by Blair on the southwest. Its area 

 is 1230 square miles, thus making it the largest county in the state. 

 The Bald Eagle Mountains divide the county nearly in half; to the 

 northwest, stretches the main ridge of the Alleghanies; to the 



