434 General Notes. [^ 



and one in Groton by Mr. C. F. Batchelder. The only cases where young 

 birds have been found with their parents in Massachusetts, thus giving 

 satisfactory evidence of a successful nesting within the State, are of two 

 nearly full-grown young taken by Mr. W. S. Townsend at Arlington, 

 Aug. 15, 1883 (C. W. Townsend, Auk, I, April, 1884, p. 192), and of one 

 young female with speckled under parts shot by Mr. H. A. Torrey at 

 Marshfield, Aug. 15, 1889 (O. and O., XIV, Sept., 1889, p. 144). The 

 present instance seems to be the first to be recorded where the entire 

 nesting has been under observation in Massachusetts. — Francis H. Allen, 

 West Roxbury, Mass. 



The Carolina Wren in Washtenaw County, Michigan. — The Carolina 

 Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) has not been recorded from Washtenaw 

 County since May 18, 1891, when a female was taken at Ann Arbor. But 

 on June 6, 1909, the writer was fortunate enough to discover a male in full 

 song in a bit of swampy woodland to the south of Ann Arbor. The clear, 

 penetrating notes of the wren's fine song first drew my attention but the 

 wren was not located until some time later when he was found on the lowest 

 limb of a small sapling, preening his feathers. He was remarkably free 

 from timidity and permitted of considerable familiarity. On June 13, 

 this same locality was again visited but without results as far as the Caro- 

 lina Wren was concerned. However, on June 20 the nest with five well 

 developed young and one runt egg was discovered by following up the old 

 bird. She was, by the merest chance, noted gathering moths and other 

 insects from the decaying logs that lay about on the ground and by patient 

 watching was seen to approach a small stump and disappear underneath 

 it. Soon she returned with a bit of the excrement of the young in her bill. 

 This she dropped at a short distance from the nest and resumed the hunt 

 for more bugs, etc. Investigation showed the nest — a rough structure of 

 moss, leaves, etc., lined with dried grasses, horse-hair and a few feathers — 

 underneath a bit of decayed wood among the roots of the stump. Only one 

 bird, presumably the female, was present in the vicinity of the nest-site, 

 and she was far from showing any anxiety at my presence so near her home. 

 On June 30 I revisited the nest in company with Mr. N. A. Wood of the 

 University Museum and Mr. F. Novy. At that time the nest was deserted 

 and the young flown. Mr. Wood collected the nest and runt egg for the 

 Museum. One thing in particular regarding the find struck me as rather 

 interesting and that was the fact that after the date of first discovery of 

 the presence of the wrens not a snatch of song was heard on any of the 

 subsequent visits. — A. D. Tinker, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 



Brown Creepers Nesting near St. Louis. — About twenty miles northwest 

 of St. Louis, in the bottom-land of the Missouri River, there is a swampy 

 formation called Duck Pond. It consists of a horse-shoe-shaped body of 

 more or less stagnant water extending for perhaps a mile and a quarter. 



