Saf Faxon, Summer Birds of Berkshire County, Mass. 41 
tain laurel affords a congenial home to the Black-throated Blue and 
Canadian Warblers. Indeed I have nowhere found the former bird 
more abundant than in the mountains of southwestern Berkshire and 
northwestern Connecticut. On the highest mountain tops, such 
as the Dome of the Taconics and Bear Mountain,* the Snowbird 
breeds in company with the Hermit Thrush, Chestnut-sided and 
Nashville Warblers and Towhee. The Towhee is very common 
on all the barren summits of the Taconic range in southern Berk- 
shire, much more so than in the valley below. 
Lorthern Berkshire. During my stay in northern Berkshire, 
from June 28 to July 16, I lived at a farmhouse in the Notch 
Road, near the boundary line between North Adams and Adams. 
Most of the time spent here was devoted to exploring the Saddle- 
Back Mountains. By this name I designate the well-defined range 
midway between the Taconics and Hoosacs, which culminates in 
Graylock Peak in Adams, 3505 feet above the sea, the loftiest 
mountain in the State. A good carriage road was built in 1885 
to the summit of Graylock. Leaving the Notch Road in North 
Adams, the way ascends for about a mile and a half through open 
pasture land, entering the forest on the northwestern flank of Mt. 
Williams, from which point it passes through an almost unbroken 
forest on the western side of the crest of the main ridge to the 
summit of Graylock, a distance of about four miles. After cross- 
ing Money Brook, nearly three miles from the summit (altitude, 
2480 feet), the forest is the primeval growth of black spruce, with 
some admixture of yellow and canoe birch, sugar maple, etc., 
and, towards the summit, balsam fir. The Graylock turnpike has 
thus opened an easy path through the most interesting part of the 
Saddle-Back range, but ere long there will be reason to deplore 
the construction of this avenue which is to the lumberman only 
an invitation to strip the crest and western slope of the range. 
With the destruction of this forest some of the most interesting 
birds of the region will, doubtless, abandon Massachusetts as a 
breeding-ground for ever. 
When one considers the very moderate elevation of the Saddle- 
Back range and the comparatively small area of coniferous forest 
oftered by it, the number of northern birds that breed there is rather 
surprising. I believe the only truly migratory Canadian species 
*The highest mountain in Connecticut, 2354 feet. 
