106 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 15-:N'o. 7 



On the ninth of June I started out to hunt 

 for a Humminpjbird's nest that had heen seen 

 clone to my house, and I soon h)cated the bird 

 and watched lier movements from about a.m. 

 until 12 M., but I did not succeed in discov- 

 ering tlie nest. She was too quick on tlie 

 wing, and the eye could not follow her llight. 

 However, while watching her a pair of liuby- 

 crowned Kinglets came along and my attention 

 was given to them. After hopping around 

 overhead for a little while they Hew to some 

 black spruces. I immediately started after 

 them and in a short time had them in view 

 again, then I sat down again, lighted a cigar, 

 and took things easy, for I knew the nest 

 could not be far away. 



In a little while the J disappeared in a 

 thick clump of tall, young, black spruces; I 

 followed up and looked and climbed every tree 

 in the vicinity, but it was no use. Meantime, 

 the $ was flitting from the top of one tree to 

 anotlier, uttering that queer sort of a whistle 

 that I do not know how to describe, except 

 that it is unlike any otlier bird's note tliat I 

 know of, and easily distinguished from all 

 others wlien once heard and known. 



In a little while the 9 appeared again, and 

 then I made up my mind that that nest must 

 be found, so to work I went, and at 2.40 p.m. 

 I found the nest, but it was only accomplished 

 by climbing the ti'ee, as the nest could not be 

 seen from the ground, it being built near tlie 

 top of a thick, black spruce tree, and this 

 time it was built on the limb^ and not under- 

 neath as described by me last year. It was 

 not on the branches of the limb l)ut i)laced on 

 the hare limb about one foot out from body of 

 the tree, and about fifteen feet from the 

 ground when I saw contents of nest, eleven 

 eggs. I got down tlie tree and watched the 

 old birds. After I had seen the 9 S<> on the 

 nest twice I shot her, and then shot the J, 

 then taking r.he nest left for home. On the 

 way back I found the nest of a Wood Pevvee 

 with four eggs, which I took to-day, and shot 

 9 bird. This nest is made entirely of hen 

 feathers, and is one of tlu^ prt^ttiest 1 have 

 ever seen. 



I might say that before shooting the King- 

 lets and after liaving discovered the nest 1 

 watched the birds for over an hour, as I wished 

 their identity to be beyond dispute. The 

 nest is built on the outside with moss and 

 lined with feathers. It measures 3 inches 

 across the top on outside, and IJ^ inches inside, 

 and \y, inches deep inside. I have blown the 

 eggs which were badly incubated, ))ut have 



made a fair job of it, and am satisfied that 

 they are good enough for any collector. 



On the 14th inst., I found the nest of another 

 Golden-crowned Kinglet, but unfortunately it 

 was full of young. This time the nest was 

 way np in the tiptop of a tall, straight black 

 spruce, and built underneath the limb and 

 clinging to the twigs, just like the two nests 

 I discovered last year. This makes in all four 

 nests of the Kinglets 1 have taken, and in 

 every instance they have been built on black 

 spruces, three of them placed underneath the 

 limb, one on the limb. //. Austen. 



Halifax, N.8. 



Bird Notes of Northern New Jersey. 



Tent caterpillars are very numerous, even 

 more than last spring; so are the Cuckoos, they 

 arrived as soon as the buds began to open. 

 They are well occupied tearing open the tent 

 webs, and consuming the caterpillars. Previ- 

 ous years the Cuckoo was not a common bird 

 here and seldom appeared so early. 



I have also noticed the Baltimore Oriole eat- 

 ing the tent caterpillars, but the Orioles are 

 not commoner than usual. 



While speaking of the Cuckoo, the black- 

 billed has often been known to dash against 

 a building and kill itself. This happens when 

 Ijursued by other birds and has come under 

 the notice of many ornithologists, but I have 

 noticed another trait this spring, it seems like 

 defective vision. I have a lot of cliicken 

 yards fenced with 2 in. mesh No. 18 wire which 

 is quite perceptible to birds. Some fly through 

 it and many over. Tlie Swallows in their 

 rapid lliglit glide over it or rest on it. A few 

 bii-ds strike it. I have during the last six 

 weeks picked up two Thrushes and one Cedar- 

 bird, but this spring several Cuckoos have 

 dashed against it, with no enemy to urge them 

 on. They were not killed and after a halt pur- 

 sued their course. 



The Brown Thrush noticed in a former num- 

 ber of the O. & O. taking its nightly lodgings 

 on a rear stoop of a thickly populated jiart of 

 New York City, '.MMh street near Fifth avenue, 

 returned again last fall .and remained as before, 

 two or three weeks, and one evening brought a 

 companion. Every morning it took its break- 

 fast of worms on the little grass iilot and dis- 

 appeared till evening. Warblers on their mi- 

 grations have been very scarce this spring, 

 two years ago they were extremely numerous, 

 and last year fairly so, but this year a very few 

 were seen to come this way. Henry IJales. 



