174 



ORmTlIOLOGIST 



[Vol. 



15-JS^o. 11 



faint peepings and twitterings, so I started to 

 investigate. It proved to be a Winter Wren, j 

 and he was repeating liis summer song in an 

 undertone, inaudible at a short distance, and 

 dwelling particularly on the trills. Leaving liim 

 to his meditations I sot»n found myself entering 

 a long strip of open maple woods, musical 

 with the morning efforts of tlie Red-eyed 

 Vireos. Paying but sliglit attention to these 

 and to the numerous Chickadees and King- 

 lets, 1 hastened on, and by rapid walking 

 arrived at my collecting ground just as the 

 sun rose. This place includes about two hun- 

 dred acres of dense undergrowth pierced by 

 roads shadowed by overhanging buslies, along 

 which it w-as only necessary to walk slowly, 

 keeping my eyes and, more especially, my ears 

 open. 



A few judicious " sucks'' on the back of my 

 hand called out a pair of Wilson's Black- 

 capped Warblers and a vast numbei' of female 

 Redstarts. After looking at me gravely for a 

 moment or so the former retreated silently 

 into the evergreens. Every few steps would 

 discover new attractions; here a gaudy Bhu-k- 

 buvnian Warbler looked down upon me fiom 

 the lower branches of a pine; therc! a Cana- 

 dian Warbler peered at me through a screen 

 of leaves; on tliis side a Prairie Warbler; on 

 that a Creeper, wliile any number of ]!ed- 

 starts. Magnolia, and I>lack-thro;i,ted (ireen 

 Warblers api)eared at every turn. Xor are the 

 Warblers all; Hermit Thrushes, Kinglets, Nut- 

 hatches, Chickadees, (ioldlinches, J'urple 

 Finches, — it would be tedious to mention the 

 half of them. 



A turn to the right, and a- few hundred yards 

 beyond, is a small cleared spot of luilf an 

 acre, an abandoned farm perhaps. <>n the 

 edge of this 1 found a long column moving 

 rapidly; all I had to do was to stand still nnd 

 let them pass in review before me. To the 

 right I saw a female Cape May Warbler feeding 

 in a small sapling, but on my turning to shoot, 

 away she went, unmindful nlike oi my fiantic 

 calls and of my muttered laments. 'J'uining 

 wrathfully to leave I was clectrilied to see 

 another, a male, in the sapling just vacated 

 by his mate. This time tliere was no mistake, 

 and a "light load " soon laid him low. 



Across the road I turned, and had taken but 

 a few steps in the long grass when a small 

 greenish l)ird Hew up and disappeared in the 

 bushes. In answer to my calls she ai)peared 

 in a rift in the foliage; though but for an in- 

 stant, an opportunity for ii hurried shot was 

 presented. 1 crawled in on hands and knees, 



and after a long search found the bird caught 

 in a crotch near the foot of a small bush. At 

 first sight I took it to be a Mourning Warbler, 

 one of which I had already seen, but a glance 

 at the white eye ring luideceived me; it was a 

 female Connecticut Warbler. Strange coinci- 

 dence, the only other specimen of this species 

 I had shot was collected on the same date 

 one year previous. On the way home a 

 lonely Robin was observed, left behind by 

 his migrating fellows, and an immature Pine 

 Creeper was shot. Examination of my field 

 notes showed that forty-eight species had 

 been observed. 



Sei)tember (ith I was again in the field, and 

 in the first few steps from the Jiouse was aston- 

 ished at the vast number of Warblers moving. 

 All the night before I had heard them Hying 

 over, and the morning found many still pass- 

 ing. Never have I seen the Warblers as abun- 

 dant as they were that morning; instead of 

 a few scattered bands, all the south side of the 

 island was one vast flock, and a few calls suf- 

 ficed to bring down clouds of birds. In the 

 bushes along the roads the Parula Wai- 

 blers had become common, the Bay-breasted 

 and Blackpolls were everywhere, and the 

 Black-throated Greens, Magnolias, and Nasli- 

 villes were not much behind. The Pine Creep- 

 eis. J'rairies, Wilson, and Chestnut-sided were 

 much commoner than usual, and the Downy 

 Woodpeckers were in every tree. t-oon I 

 turned along the bluff, where they weie still 

 in Tud)roken array, where I saw four White- 

 bellied Nuthatches and a Hairy Woodpecker, 

 both, strange to say, rare birds to the island. 



Among other rarities were a i)air of IMiila- 

 delphia Vireos and a Cape ]SIay Warbler. 

 After breakfast I rested an hour or so while I 

 skinned some birds and then started out again. 

 To my surprise the host had neaily disaj)- 

 peared and the birds weie if anything a little 

 less comnujn than usual. That day was the 

 height of the season; ol species were recorded. 



Sfetvarf E. White. 



Grand Rapids, Kent Co., ;\Iicli. 



