152 



IHE OOLOGIST. 



found a nest of the song sparrow con- 

 taining fve very large and apparent- 

 ly fresh eggs. In a pasture field, very 

 exposed, a vesper sparrow's nest 

 with four, well incubated eggs was 

 observed. A Maryland yellowthroat's 

 nest with three young birds, about 

 eight days old was found at the base 

 of a willow sapling in swampy ground. 



We followed the dried up bed of 

 a mountain torrent, and for the first 

 three or four hundred feet, the ascent 

 was by no means difficult. Then the 

 country became wilder, the trees 

 thicker, and soon the path up which 

 we were to plod seemed very nearly 

 perpendicular. A stout stick that we 

 carried, proved of much use until we 

 struck the wall-like barrier, when it 

 was discarded, because swifter and 

 safer progress could be made by 

 grasping the stout saplings and pull- 

 ing one's self up by sheer force. We 

 had a few bad knocks and hard falls 

 among the jagged rocks, but after a 

 while we caught the knack of this 

 sort of walking and made very good 

 time in the ascent. 



At about 700 feet from the base of 

 the mountain I flushed an oven-bird, 

 Seiurus aurocapillus, from its nest 

 among the leaves; the nest contained 

 four fresh eggs which I measured. 

 They seem to be typical of this bird; 

 (1) and (2) .77x.58 (exactly the 

 same); (3) .72x.59; (4) .74x.57 in, 

 rounded-oval, fine in texture, of a del- 

 icate pinkish-white, spotted, blotched 

 and ringed about the larger end with 

 rich reddish-brown, the ring inter- 

 spersed with lilac-grey. At the sum- 

 mit of the mountain is a ledgy rock, 

 from which point, places scores of 

 miles away are brought into view. A 

 steel plate and a flag were placed in 

 this rock by the state surveyor. 

 About the summit, birds seemed to be 

 very scarce. A few oven-birds, a pair 

 of hermit thrushes, white-breasted 



nuthatches, and three or four red-eyed 

 vireos were noticed. 



About 4 o'clock we started the de- 

 scent, and if the ascent had been 

 steep, the downward one seemed dcu- 

 bly so. The sun was in the back of 

 the mountain which shut out the 

 light in such a manner that the woods, 

 seemed filled with a sort of dim half- 

 light. After several falls, stumbling^ 

 and other acrobatic stunts, we emerg- 

 ed from the dim shadows into the sun- 

 light, where birds were singing, and 

 the sun was still high in the heav- 

 ens. We now followed a cow-patk 

 and stopped at a farm house for a 

 drink of cool milk. Completely ex- 

 hausted we dragged ourselves into our 

 cottage at sunset. 



Although my attention was very 

 much taken up with the bird fauna, I 

 still carried my insect-net and several 

 interesting beetles were captured. 

 Among the bushes at the base of 

 the mountain, three species of Lam- 

 pyrids, or fire-flies, were secured; Ce- 

 letes basalis, Trypherus latipennis, 

 and Malthodes niger, both male and 

 female; also an Elaterid, Melanotus 

 leonardi and a beautiful Mordelled, 

 Mordellistena amica. In the damp re- 

 cesses of the higher altitudes, many 

 fungous growths were found and ex- 

 amined. These yielded several rove 

 beetles, Staphylindae, s,p., such as 

 gyrohaena sp. ; Bolitobius axil- 



laris and B. cintiicollis; also nu- 

 cotretus sanguinipennis. Say. 



CHAS. P. ALEXANDER. 



The Ruffed Grouse and Some of His 

 Habits. 



The Ruffed Grouse, commonly call- 

 ed the Partridge in the north, is the 

 game bird most sought for by sports- 

 men in the east. 



It's favorite resorts are heavily tim- 

 bered districts, although they are of- 



