VERMONT BIRD CLUB 33 



could reach. When they reached the island instead of 

 alighting they circled and wheeled high in the air until the 

 sky above was literaly swarming with them. As night 

 came on with ceaseless chirpings and twitterings they set- 

 tled down to rest in the cedars. With the aid of a lantern 

 we made a tour of the island that night and found the birds 

 perched in the cedars in countless numbers everywhere, 

 some roosted so low that blinded by the light we could 

 capture and examine them. We found them to be the com- 

 mon bank swallow and as far as my observation I 

 saw no otlier variety. We would beat on the tree trunk 

 with a stick and such a hubbub would ensue as the startled 

 birds took wing only to settle down again when all was 

 quiet. At day break by ones or twos and in small flocks, 

 they scattered in all directions, to return again as the day 

 waned. People who have long observed the birds tell me 

 that they begin to congregate on the island about the mid- 

 dle of August and leave about September ist, all departing 

 at the same time. It would be impossible to estimate the 

 number of birds that congregate there and no one who has 

 not seen them there can give an idea of the enormous hosts 

 meeting before their annual departure for the Southland. 



Mrs Nelly Hart Woodworth of St. Albans contributes 

 the following observations : 



A steel fox-trap weighing five pounds, and marked with 

 the owner's name, was found, two days after it was set, in 

 a distant part of the town. Attached by one leg to the trap 

 was a great Horned Owl (bubo virginianus). Though the 

 bird had flown four miles carrying the heavy trap, it was in 

 good fighting condition when found. Another trap set in 

 the same month — November — upon the top of the house, 

 caught a snowy owl. 



Upon Nov. I2th, 1906, a sportsman from Enosburg 

 Falls brought me a large handsome gull which he could not 

 identify. It proved to be a Kittiwake in finest plumage, 

 not a feather of which was soiled or ruffled. The bird, 

 which was mounted and is now in the hunter's possession, 

 had been seen for several days flying over the mill-pond at 

 Enosburg Falls. If there was a doubt before as to includ- 

 ing the Kittiwake in the list of Vermont birds this re- 

 moves it, though the bird has, to my certain knowledge, 

 been taken before at St. Albans Bay. 



Several years ago, while living at East Berkshire, I saw 

 white crowned sparrows carrying away bits of dry grass and 

 "excelsior" that, used for packing, was scattered about the 



