ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 65 



large dead birches, and a decided preference is manifested for the 

 vicinity of water, though some nests occur on high ground in the 

 interior of the woods, but never so abundantly there as along the 

 margin of rivers and lakes. Both sexes work alternately, relieving 

 each other at frequent intervals, the bird not employed usually 

 clinging near the hole and encouraging its toiling mate by an occa- 

 sional low cry. With the deepening of the hole arises the necessity 

 for increased labor, as the rapidly accumulating debris must be 

 removed, and the bird now appears at frequent intervals at the 

 entrance, and, dropping its mouthful of chips, returns to its work. 

 A week or more is occupied in the completion of the nest, the time 

 varying considerably with the relative hardness of the wood. A 

 small quantity of the finer chips are left at the bottom to serve as 

 a bed for the eggs. The birds now take a vacation, roaming through 

 the woods together in search of food, though frequently one or the 

 other remains near the nesting-place to guard the premises. The 

 female commences laying about the 20th of May, in ordinary sea- 

 sons, and deposits from five to seven eggs. The labor of incuba- 

 tion, like all other duties, is shared equally by the two sexes. A 

 short sketch, founded upon an extract from the writer's journal of a 

 day's experience on Umbagog Lake, Maine, may perhaps give the 

 reader a better insight into the nidification of these birds than 

 would a more formal style of description, and it is hoped will con- 

 vey a sufficiently intelligible idea of the surroundings. 



"Disembarking from the steamer near the head of the lake, the 

 dense fog, which had all the morning prevailed, began to break, riven 

 asunder by a slight breeze that had arisen, and drifting off in heavy 

 masses, dissolved under the influence of the sun, disappearing, no 

 one knows whither, as the ice had disappeared from these same 

 waters earlier in the spring. And now a dozen lovely views burst 

 into sight. Towering mountain-summits, strips of heavily wooded 

 shore, long stretches of bright blue water rippling merrily under 

 the influence of the rising breeze, — all these appearing and disap- 

 pearing through rents and vistas of floating vapor, went to make up 

 a constantly shifting panorama of exceeding loveliness. But nearly 

 all of Nature's best effects are transient, and, the change from 

 gloomy cloudiness to the bright, clear aspect of a June morning 

 being soon effected, we found ourselves floating near the middle of 

 a broad sheet of water, some four miles long by two in breadth, 

 known in local parlance as the 'arm of the lake.' This fine ex- 



