236 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



a low bush in the yard. The happy song of the House Wren was 

 always in evidence and three nests were built under the porch roof. 

 The writer personally observed one of the broods leaving the nest, and 

 was surprised to see two of their number climb up the straight trunk 

 of a wild cherry tree — genuine woodpecker fashion — for a distance of 

 twelve or fifteen feet, where the limbs began to branch out. However, 

 they arrived at the top safely and remained there for the balance of the 

 day. 



Humming Birds often came and hovered over the many beautiful 

 flowers in the yard and sometimes consented to alight for a few 

 minutes for our benefit. On one of these occasions a party of five (in- 

 cluding the writer's baby daughter) approached to within three feet of 

 the tall flower stock upon which our little visitor was perched; still it 

 sat there, turning its wee head this way and that, looking at us with 

 fearless unconcern. At last it gave a sharp chirp, flew and was soon 

 lost to sight. On one occasion in the early morning, we were greeted 

 with the familiar call "Bob White", which seemed to come from the 

 woods in the rear yard. The call was repeated several times but we 

 were unable to discover the author of it. A tree of fine red cherries 

 proved a great attraction for Cat birds and other feathered fruit lovers. 

 But what we considered the greatest privilege, and one which we ex- 

 ceedingly enjoyed, was the daily greeting of the Wood Thrushes dur- 

 ing the breakfast hour and at twilight. What could be more charming 

 than to sit leisurely eating the morning meal and all the while listening 

 to the sweet clear strains of the loveliest bird songs, pouring from the 

 throats of the russet-brown vocalists just outside the kitchen window 

 peal after peal, in endless volume and variation. In addition 

 to the birds already mentioned, we sometimes heard the shrill scream 

 of the Blue Jay, also the notes of King Birds and Crested Flycatchers, 

 while from the distance, floating to us from across some field or mead- 

 ow came the morning song of a Meadow Lark or the well known call 

 of the Killdeer. The crows also added their deep caw, caw, caw, to 

 the chorus of woodland voices. The clearing above referred to 

 proved to be the home of two or three species of the Warbler family 

 and a walk through the vicinity the following winter revealed a number 

 of nests. They were all placed low and one of them showed every indi- 

 cation of having been built and occupied by an Oven Bird. A tame 

 Chipmunk who resided under a board walk also proved of interest to 

 us. 



The usual wild flowers of the season were abundant and the surround- 

 ing country at large was admirably suited for exploration and research, 



hence our sojourn at the "Cottage" was one of pleasure and instruction. 



Berton Mercer. 



