April, 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



31 



Gold Finch. — Feb. 12, early morning, 

 ground covered with frozen snow and quite 

 wintry, but with a bright sun. An Ameri- 

 can Gold Finch flew across the road and 

 alighted on an apple tree in plain sight, 

 singing precisely the same notes as if it 

 was the mating season, and with the same 

 undulating flight, and the brightest Win- 

 ter plumaged specimen we ever saw. — Ed. 



Winter Birds have been more abundant 

 than usual thus far. Some friends of mine 

 secured eight Pine Grosbeaks, among them 

 two males. I have seen a small flock of 

 them in this town. Shrikes, Redpolls and 

 Snow Buntings are quite abundant. — L. 



R. Mich, Saratoga, N. Y. 



■♦^ 



Notes from Southampton, Mass. 



Phcebe Bird. — Sept. 6, 1882, saw two 

 young Pewees, {Sayornls fuscus,) which 

 were just old enough to fly. Was it not 

 late ? H. D. Minot says the Pewees "rare- 

 ly if ever arrive before the last week in 

 March." I observed them on March 1, 

 1880, but in 1882 I did not see them until 

 April 2d. 



Ruffed Grouse. — Last Summer I was 

 riding through a rather low, swampy place, 

 when I heard something clucking in the 

 bushes, r Avent toward the bushes, when 

 a Ruffed Grouse or Partridge ran past me, 

 making her peculiar call to her chicks. I 

 went on a little farther, and saw, coming 

 towards me, nine or ten chicks, apparently 

 just hatched. I stooped and put down my 

 hand when one of the little fellows ran right 

 into it. I carried it to the carriage to show 

 to my companion, and when I went back I 

 could have caught the whole brood in the 

 same way, as they made no attempt to hide. 

 — T. Mills Clark, Southampton, JIass. 



American Redstart, {Setophafja ruticilla) 

 This lovely warbler first made its appear- 

 ance in this township May 12th, 1857. It 

 is with us a common Summer resident and 

 is found breeding. It seems to prefer low 

 heavily timbered lands and swampy places, 

 in fact I am not able to give a single in- 



stance of seeing it, or finding its nest in 

 any other situation. The Redstart is often 

 found searching for insects on the ground 

 among the decaying leaves and old fallen 

 timber. On one occasion I followed a 

 beautiful male over one hundred yards, 

 that was busily engaged in securing a 

 meal, and was frequently so near it that I 

 could have easily reached it with the muz- 

 zle of my gun. The following are the 

 dates of arrival of this species in Locke 

 for twenty-six consecutive years : 



May 12, 18.5T. June 5, 18!i4. May 10, 1871. April 30, 18T8. 



May 12, IS.jS. May 18, 1865. May 1, 1ST2. May 4, 1879. 



May 11, 1859, May 3, 1866. May 5, 1873. May 4, 1883. 



May 7,1860. May 8,1867. May 7,1874. May 4,1881. 



May 8; 1861. May 12, 18(;8. May 9, 1875. May 3, 1882. 



May 10, 1862. May 3, 18'J9. May 9, 1876. 



May 2, 1863. May 7, 1870. May 10, 1877. 



— TJr. II. A. Atkins, Locke, Michigan. 



White-bellied Nuthatch. — My first nest 

 was found in April, 1880, but thinking it 

 too early for eggs I waited until May, when 

 young rewarded me. This nest was in a 

 large natural cavity in an oak tree, about 

 twenty feet high. The nest was composed 

 principally of a sort of felt-like substance, 

 mixed with some bark and lined with hair. 

 It was about 100 yards from the second 

 nest, collected April 26, 1882. This nest 

 was in an enormous white oak, on a hill- 

 side, and fully fifty feet from the ground. 

 The entrance was a knot hole, in the live 

 wood, about 2^x2 inches. The cavity in- 

 side was quite large and was nearly filled 

 by the nest, which was composed almost 

 entirely of oak bark and a lining of hair. 

 The nest contained six fresh eggs, which I 

 secured by means of a rude wooden spoon. 

 They were, before blowing, of a rosy-white 

 color, spotted thickly with reddish brown. 

 The birds showed much solicitude, fre- 

 quently coming within a few feet and rap- 

 idly repeating their usual note. — L. R. 

 Rich, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 



Owls and Horned Grebe. — On Dec. 19th 

 an old Dutchman brought into town a 

 Barn Owl, the first that I have ever seen 

 or heard of in this locality. On the same 

 date a farmer brought in a Horned Grebe, 



