BIRDS OF NEW YORK 29 



twenty years before, although the wood was, in other respects than those 

 mentioned, in the same condition as formerly, one could find no longer 

 any Ruffed grouse, Least flycatcher, Red-eyed vireo, Yellow warbler, 

 Chestnut-sided warbler, Hooded warbler, Redstart, Field sparrow, Gold- 

 finch, Rose-breasted grosbeak and Indigo bird. There were only a few 

 Wood thrushes left, probably only one pair. Only two new species, how- 

 ever, were observed. These were the Scarlet tanager and Yellow-throated 

 vireo, which seemed fairly common throughout the grove, and the 

 Ovenbird and Veery were much more common than they had been twenty 

 years before. The student of bird life will readily account for most of 

 the change in the avifauna noted, which is principally due to the destruc- 

 tion of the breeding and feeding sites of the birds which had disappeared. 

 It would seem natural enough that the Yellow-throated vireo should now 

 be commoner than the Red-eyed vireo, but that it should have been 

 entirely absent in 1880 and the Red-eyed entirely absent in 1900, was hard 

 to explain. Also why the Veery was more common and the Wood thrush 

 less common is equally difficult of solution. These cases of the vireos 

 and thrushes may possibly be due to questions of rivalry which are not 

 fully understood at the present time. 



This brief chapter in history will serve to answer more forcibly than 

 any general argument a question which has been put to me so often by 

 nature lovers in different portions of the State, as to why they can not 

 have certain species of birds in their groves and wood lots, or in their 

 orchards and gardens. It is absolutely essential that the proper nesting 

 and feeding habitat shall be provided for those species which are not 

 universal in their choice of environment. 



Birds of the Central Lake Ravines 

 In the west-central part of New York State and extending like the 

 thumb and fingers of the outstretched palm from the Lake Ontario low- 

 land toward the highlands of eastern and southern New York, lies the 

 chain of lakes: Oneida, Onondaga, Otisco, Skaneateles, Owasco, Cayuga, 



