40 Faxon, Summer Birds of Berkshire County, Mass. [ January 
Brewster’s* account of a nine days’ exploration of the region about 
Graylock in June, 1883, will, I believe, give a fair notion of the 
summer Passerine birds of the County. 
Southern Berkshire. Yen days were spent in Sheffield, a 
southern border town, whence excursions were made into the 
neighboring towns of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The vil- 
lage of Shetheld lies along the Housatonic River, 675 feet above 
the sea, in an alluvial interval, seven miles in breadth. The val- 
ley is abruptly closed on the west by the massive wall of the Ta- 
conic Mountains, which here culminate for southern Berkshire in 
the Dome, or Mount Everett, at 2624 feet. On the east the valley 
is bounded by the lower and less precipitous range of the Hoosacs. 
The valley of the Housatonic, trending north and south, like that 
of the Connecticut, has attracted several birds that give a distinctly 
southern cast tothe fauna. I refer to the presence of such birds 
as the Yellow-breasted Chat and Orchard Oriole, and to the com- 
parative abundance of the Grasshopper Sparrow, Mourning Dove, 
etc. The likeness to the avifauna of the Connecticut Valley at 
Springfieldt is further shown by the rarity of the White-eyed 
Vireo, White-bellied Swallow, and Redstart, so common in the 
eastern counties of Massachusetts. 
The mountains of southern Berkshire nowhere much exceed an 
altitude of 2600 feet, and are nearly destitute of spruce and fir. 
Their sides are for the most part clothed with a heavy second 
growth of chestnut, oak, birch, maple, etc. The loftiest sum- 
mits are barren ledges of mica-schist and quartz, sparsely covered 
by low, prostrate pitch pines, gray birches, red oaks, scrub oaks, 
and mountain ashes. Such conditions of vegetation would doubt- 
less attract but few Canadian birds, even if the height of the moun- 
tains were much greater than itis. Nevertheless, the presence 
of a few northern forms leaves a perceptible Canadian impress on 
the fauna of these mountains, when compared with that of the 
underlying valley. The Wood Thrushes of the valley are sup- 
planted in a large measure by Hermit Thrushes. Nashville War- 
blers and Blue-headed Vireos, seldom seen in the low country, 
become tolerably common, while the dense undergrowth of moun- 
*Notes on the Summer Birds of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. By William 
Brewster. Auk, I, Jan. 1884, pp. 5-16. 
+ Catalogue of the birds found at Springfield, Mass., etc. By J. A. Allen. Proc. 
Essex Inst., [V, 1864. 
