184 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-Ko. 11 



where in preceding years it lent a charm to the 

 otherwise gloomy scene. For, to my mind, the 

 song notes of but few of our birds has more 

 melody than that of the Winter Wren, and to 

 seek its nesting place and secure some sets of 

 its eggs has occupied the leisure hours of many 

 a spring and summer day; and to attempt to 

 describe some of the haunts of this bird, and 

 the hardships met with, especially after the 

 mosquitoes have developed from their watery 

 cradle, would, I think, discouiage most of our 

 closet naturalists, yet in all my hunts and ram- 

 bles, from our early settlement in the back- 

 woods, only three nests of this species — con- 

 taining eggs — have come within my observation. 

 Many an old or newly composed nest have I 

 seen, but from the fact that the species builds 

 a number of false nests, and at once forsakes 

 one that is touched by the human hand, certain 

 it is that many a time when I have revisited a 

 nesting place, in the hope of securing the eggs, 

 have I returned disappointed. 



In the early part of May, 1887, in company 

 with one of my youngest children, I took a 

 ramble to a piece of woods about a mile and a 

 half south of this town, where I have hunted 

 in the early season for some years past, and 

 every part of which is well known to me. In 

 the centre of this wood is a tract of low swamp 

 which I knew to be the summer habitat of one or 

 two pairs of Winter Wrens, and where I had 

 seen several nests, but failed to procure any 

 eggs. On this occasion I was pleased to note 

 the recent arrival of some of our most pleas- 

 ing woodland songsters, otherwise we had 

 nearly completed the circuit of the wood with- 

 out observing anything else worthy of note, ex- 

 cept gathering some beautiful wild flowers, 

 when 1 noticed that a good sized maple tree 

 had lately fallen near our path, and that in 

 its fall it had drawn up with its roots a large 

 piece of earth, which hanging downwards 

 formed a kind of tent or wigwam, and that near 

 by a Winter Wren was charmingly singing. 

 Conjecturing that this might be a nesting place 

 of this species I drew near to investigate. I 

 found in the hut a kind of door, into which I 

 stooped down in ordei' to see within, and there 

 just before in the side of the wall I was pleased 

 to discover the newly formed nest of the Win- 

 ter Wren. Owing to its form and position and 

 the small entrance, it was of course impossible 

 to see the bottom of the inside of this struc- 

 ture; but warned by past experieu(!e I did not 

 dare to intrude a finger, but I rightly judged 

 that it was yet too early in the season for eggs 

 to be deposited, and a close view of the nest 



showed that it was being lined in the inside 

 with small feathers. I therefore calculated 

 that in about ten days the nest would be fin- 

 ished and the set of eggs deposited. Accord- 

 ingly I returned on the 18th, and as I stooped 

 into the cave and no bird flushed out, I began 

 to fear that I was again to be disappointed, but 

 cautiously inserting a finger into the door of the 

 nest I was pleased to find that it contained a 

 number of eggs, one of which I took out, and 

 thought that it looked fresh, then I feared that 

 the set was not completed, but I concluded to 

 take them rather than run the risk of not get- 

 ting any, as the bird discovering that the nest 

 had been disturbed might destroy the eggs, or 

 some other species of collector might take 

 them before I returned again; and it was well 

 that I did so, for on preparing them I found 

 that they had been several days undergoing the 

 process of incubation. This nest, which I 

 carefully removed, was in form much like that 

 of a mouse, with a small entrance in the side 

 facing outward, and was composed of a species 

 of greenish-yellow moss that grows on the 

 bark of maple and elm trees, in damp woods. 

 On the outward side, in order to make it more 

 firm, especially around the entrance, the little 

 architect had intermingled with the soft moss 

 several bits of small bramble and stalks of 

 dead leaves. The inside, as well as I could see, 

 was neatly lined with the fine feathers of hawks, 

 crows and grouse. The set of eggs was five in 

 number. These were of a clear white hue, 

 dotted, especially towards the larger end, with 

 small si)ots of a reddish color. In form, size 

 and coloration they can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from those of the Chickadee and 

 Brown Creeper. 



Flight of Land Birds on Monomoy Is- 

 land, Cape Cod, Mass. 



BY JOHN C. CAHOON. 



A flight of land birds took place on this is- 

 land on or about September 17th. 



The wind blew fresh from the north for sev- 

 eral days preceded with cool weather, and this 

 had no doubt started the birds on their south- 

 ward journey. 



The first notice that I had of the presence of 

 these birds was on the morning of the 17th, 

 when Mr. J. Whiting, a gentleman that was 

 with me at the time, and myself were over on 

 the high beach after Plover. While in my blind 



