July 1890.] 



AWD OOLOGIST. 



103 



Stray Notes. 



In Footc's Semi-annual, Mr. Pennock, com- 

 montinj:^ on my statement tliat the Brown- 

 lioaded Nntliatch prefers to build near water, 

 sufigcsts tliat in my locality suitable nestings 

 sites are found more frequently in such places 

 tlian on dry upland. This is true; the low 

 grounds of one creek furnish enough dead trees 

 and stumi)s for all the hole-buildinfij birds in 

 the county to use, and then there would still 

 be i)lenty left for visitors from foreign parts. 

 Tlie Carolina Chickadee is impartial in his 

 choice of a dead stub, and doesn't seem to care 

 whether it is highland or lowland, wet or dry. 

 I still tliink, however, that the Nuthatch .pre 

 fers to be near a small stream and not to take 

 up his dwelling in a fence-post on a hill, but I 

 am not certain, except as to one point, and 

 that is that if he finds a suitable stub standing 

 in water, the water is no sort of objection to 

 liis occupying the same. I am obliged to Mr. 

 Pennock, though, for his comment, as, al- 

 though it is a very obvious fact that 75 per 

 cent, or more of the dead trees and stumps in 

 this locality would be in or near water, I had 

 entirely overlooked the fact when writing as 

 to the Nuthatch's preference in the matter. 



Witli regard to data blanks, it seems to be 

 tliat instead of there being a blank for '■'• Iden- 

 tificdtion,'''' said blank would be l)etter filled 

 by " How identified.''^ In filling up datas I use 

 three terms to fill this space, viz., "Bird on 

 nest," "Bird seen building," and "Nest, eggs 

 and situation." A fourth term sometimes 

 comes in handy, viz., "Bird seen," which sig- 

 nifies that tlie birtl came around while I was 

 taking the nest, and showed plainly the nest 

 belonged to her. The first two terms imply 

 positive identification, the third will suffice in 

 this locality to identify Pine Warbler, Brown- 

 headed Nuthatch, Chat, both species of Tit, 

 Crested Flycatclier, Wood Pewee, Acadian 

 Flycatcher, Kingbird, Wood Thrush, Catbird, 

 Tiirasher, Mocker, Louisiana Water Thrush, 

 F'ield Sparrow, Cardinal, both Indigos, Sum- 

 mer Tanager, and in fact most species of birds 

 I am well acquainted with except Vireos and 

 Hawks, where it is usually necessary to see 

 the birds. I have never found it necessary to 

 shoot a bird to identify nest and eggs; if I 

 couldn't make sure one day the next would 

 usually give me the opportunity to get a good 

 look at the bird. 



In the March O. & O., Mr. White has an 

 article on the terms used to d(>notc the relative 

 abundance of birds, and I wish to suggest 



another difficulty in the way of representing 

 the matter correctly, and that is that birds 

 which are "solitary" in the breeding season 

 are "social" in winter; while the Sparrows 

 and Juncos nre not gregarious in the same 

 sense as Waxwings and Goldfinches, yet instead 

 of finding the Song Sparrow here in pairs 

 or family squads, one usually finds them in 

 fiocks of twenty-five to one hundred in the 

 bushes if one finds any at all; the same applies 

 also to our other winter sparrows, viz., Field, 

 Swamp, Fox, Vesper, and Wliite-throated and 

 also the .Jnnco; the Savannah Sparrow on the 

 other hand is usually solitary or in twos or 

 threes. I must confess that the matter com- 

 pletely beats me except when I find a species 

 present in large numbers everywhere and then 

 he goes down as "Abundant," if in fewer 

 numbers but still well distributed, or if 

 present in large numbers in certain situations 

 only, I say "Common," but if I don't feel 

 justified in calling him common, then I put 

 down what seems to fit in best, but anybody 

 else would probably get a ditferent idea from 

 what I intended to convey. (7. S. Brimley. 

 Raleigh, N.C. 



Notes from Dartmouth, N.S. 



Yesterday I found nest and eggs of Chipping 

 Spnrrow ))uilt on sjiruce tree, about four feet 

 from ground. 



Nest of Tree Sparrow with two eggs, built 

 on low spruce tree, about two feet from 

 ground. 



Nest of Black-throated Greei; Warbler; three 

 eggs, on little spruce tree, about four feet 

 from ground. 



Nest of Junco, with four eggs, on the ground 

 underneath bank. 



On .lune lOth. I was out this afternoon 

 with friend Eagan and took the following 

 nests: Tree Sparrow, three eggs, built on low 

 sjiruce tree, 9 secured; Purple Linnet, three 

 eggs, built on little spruce tree, near the top, 

 about ten fecst from ground, 9 secured; Black- 

 throated Green Warbler, three eggs, built on 

 low spruce trees about three feet from ground, 

 9 secured;. Redstart, four eggs, nest in fork 

 of beech tree, about ten feet from the ground, 

 9 on nest and secured ; Sandpijier, took nest 

 of four young ones. 



All the above with other nests mentioned in 

 my last were taken within a quarter of a mile 

 of mv house. H. Austen. 



