1884-1 Brewster on Birds of Berkshire County, Mass. C 



feathers showiiifj; a band of dull vvliite, succeeded by a broad black tip: 

 breast slaty, becominjr dull white on the throat; abdomen white, tinjjcd 

 with very pale rufous; a line of black passing from the top of the eye 

 along the sides of the head to the neck ; under surface of wings white, 

 becoming dark brown at the tips ; the shafts of the feathers on the breast 

 and throat dark brown, forming numerous hair-like lines on the surface 

 of the plumage; legs and feet greenish-yellow; upper mandible black; 

 under mandible green at the base, shading into black at the tip ; iris yellow. 



Length, 14.50; wing, 8. 50; tail, 3.75; tarsus, 3.75; bill, 1.50. 



The sexes appear to be similar. 



NOTES ON THE SUMMER BIRDS OF BERKSHIRE 

 COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



Probably no other area of similar extent in Massachusetts 

 has held out as inviting a field to the ornithologist as Berkshire 

 County. Owing to its elevated, mountainous character it has 

 been long suspected to harbor certain northern birds not known 

 to summer elsewhere, at least regularly, within our limits, and 

 speculations have been more or less freely indulged in by writers 

 as to the species that breed there. But rather curiously no one — 

 or at least no competent observer — seems to have cut the Gor- 

 dian knot byinvestigating tlie region at the proper season, so that 

 at this late date we actually have no definite information regard- 

 ing it. With the hope of doing something towards filling this 

 blank I visited the county last summer (1S83) and explored the 

 northern portion of it. — rather hurriedly it must be confessed, 

 but still with sufficient thoroughness to acquire very much more 

 than a superficial knowledge of its summer birds. My stay extended 

 from June 21 to June 29, thus embracing a fair share of that brief 

 period when the waves of migration are at rest, and birds of 

 nearlv everv kind engaged in reproduction. Hence it is reasona- 

 ble to assume that all the species found in numbers were establish- 

 ed for the summer and breeding. This consideration is important 

 inasmuch as I fomul but few nests. 



