1889. | Rives, Birds of White Top Mountain, Virginia. 51 
able height, hemlocks, beeches and various lesser kinds, among 
them a species of mountain magnolia. Deciduous trees, eyen of 
large dimensions, are to be found nearly up to the summit. One 
birch tree of unusual size, less than a thousand feet from the 
top, we measured roughly, and estimated its circumference at 
twenty-three feet. On its southern exposure, the crown of the 
mountain is a beautiful grass field, affording excellent grazing for 
cattle and a congenial place for the numerous Snowbirds in which 
to construct their nests. On the northern side it is wooded and 
somewhat precipitous, while the extreme summit is covered with 
a thick groyvth of a species of balsam known locally as the lash- 
horn, and is carpeted with beds of moss and the pretty flowers of 
Oxalis acetosella, strongly reminding one of the Adirondack 
woods. 
As my stay was short, three nights only being spent at Miller’s, 
my ornithological investigations were chiefly confined to the 
upper 1000 feet of the mountain, which, it might be supposed, 
would be of special interest. Fusco hyemalis carolinensis was, 
as I have intimated, abundant, and, I was informed, breeds there 
plentifully, the nests being usually found in the grass field I have 
referred to. I was shown one nest in a depression in the grass 
near the summit, containing three young birds recently hatched, 
and was told that one containing eggs had been seen the 
preceding Saturday, July 21. These were of course second 
broods. The feeble lisping notes of the Golden-crowned Wrens 
(Regulus satrapa) betrayed their presence, in the lashhorns 
at the top, and they proved to be quite common, sharing 
that elevated abode with a few Black-throated Green Warblers 
(Dendroica virens). The latter birds were exceedingly 
common lower down, being numerous among the deciduous 
trees, and not at all confined to the balsams, as Mr. Brewster 
found them on the Black Mountain. The Black-throated Blue 
Warbler (Dendroica cerulescens) was not very common, not 
nearly so much so as JD. vzrexs, which was perhaps partly due 
to the comparative absence of large laurel brakes from this part 
of the mountain, although even in apparently suitable localities 
they were not abundant. One or more Blackburnian Warblers 
(Dendroica blackburnte) were also observed, and were, I sus- 
pect, not uncommon, and the Black-and-white Creeper ( AZxzo- 
tzlta varta) was seen quietly occupied as usual in its industrious 
