ORNITnOLOGICAL CLUB. 3 



several other birds of the Canadian Fauna, on Mount Monadnock, 

 New Hampshire, within tiftcen miles of the Massachusetts State lino. 

 Throughout the White Mountains -of New Hampshire they are 

 everywhere common during the summer, but it is not until we 

 reach the latitude of the Umbagog Lakes, in Western Maine, that 

 we find them evenly, distributed over high and low coimtry alike, 

 In this region summer- succeeds winter so quickly that there is 

 almost no spring. Thus when I reached Upton on the 25th of 

 May, 1876, I found that the lakes had broken up but four days 

 previously ;" not a leaf had unfolded, even in the most sheltered 

 places, and snow lay in large masses everywhere in the hollows and 

 on northern exposures. Yet many species of Warblers, had already 

 arrived, and among them the subject of the present sketch was well 

 represented. 



They kept closely about the buildings, and although the day was 

 warm, maintained an almost perfect silence. Dozens at a time 

 were hopping about the manure" heap behind the stables and around 

 the sink-spout, while all showed a certain apprehensiveness of man- 

 ner, as if they feared the issue of their temerity in penetrating into 

 so bleak and dreary a region. Taking a short walk into the woods, 

 I found them untenanted, save by a few Titmice, Woodpeckers, and 

 some of the earlier Sparrows. But in the course of the next week 

 wonderful changes took place. The birches first, afterwards the 

 maples, beech-trees, and poplars, put on a feathery drapery of the 

 most delicate green. The shad-bush. {Amelanchier canadensis) and 

 the " monse-wood " (Comns circinata) became white with clustering 

 blossoms, and looked at a distance like fleecy summer-clouds en- 

 tangled among the trees. Underfoot, beautiful trilliums of both 

 the purple {Trilliuvi enxtnm) ixn6. white {7\ <jrandiJIoriivL) species, 

 were consi)icuous among a host of other wild-flowers. Bees hummed 

 among the blossoms, and butterflies flitted airily" through the' forest 

 glades. Everything was fresh, lovely, and suggestive of the calm, 

 peaceful security of summer. Tlius in one week were consummated 

 changes that, farther south, are often extended through nearly 

 thrice the time. All this while the birds had kept ample pace with 

 the advance of the season. Hundreds were daily arriving, passing 

 on, or settling into their accustomed summer-haunts, and the woods 

 fairly rang with the first burst of their melody. During the next 

 week all the Warblers, and most of the smaller birds generally, 

 were occupied in pairing and constructing their nests. Then came 



