THE OOL.OQIST. 



155 



Bird Notes from El Rancho. 



This has been a fine season for the 

 birds. With the exception of a se- 

 vere thunder storm on April 13th, 

 whicli destroj^ed a large number of 

 nests in trees, especially those of the 

 Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, the weather 

 has been ideal for the rearing of 

 young. As I sit at my desk writing, 

 a young Chimney Swift sits on the 

 andirons in the fireplace, his eyes not 

 yet open, but his mouth continually 

 so, crying for food. This is even the 

 Swifts second brood, notwithstanding 

 they were broken up once at the be- 

 ginning of the season. Chipping and 

 Field Sparrows have raised three 

 broods to my knowledge, while the 

 Kingbirds have followed second with 

 two broods, in fact nearly everything 

 in this section has raised two or more 

 broods; among them Cardinals, Chats, 

 Carolina Wrens, Blue Grosbeaks, In- 

 digos, Prairie Warblers and Orioles, 

 besides those already mentioned. This 

 year I have triad one or two test cases 

 with the birds. Last year I had a 

 pair of Orioles (orchard) and King- 

 birds build a nest in a Dogwood tree 

 near the front porch. This spring I 

 watched for them to return and wasn't 

 surprised to see what I took to be the 

 same pairs of birds commence build- 

 ing on the same limbs as the previous 

 year. These sets I took to see results, 

 and both species began building again 

 in the same tree — each on the limb 

 above where the first nest had been 

 located. The Oriole not only raised 

 this second setting, but two more, all 

 in the same tree, nine birds in all. 

 The Kingbird raised two broods of 

 three each. I think this clearly dem- 

 onstrates that there is little harm in 

 breaking up a setting, providing the 

 old birds are not molested. All these 

 young birds since leaving the nest 

 liave been busily engaged in keeping 

 my garden and orchard free from in- 



sects, the young Orioles though de- 

 stroying a large amount of grapes by 

 picking a single hole in many of the 

 grapes in each bunch. This loss 

 though I'm willing to stand, as I 

 know I gained in other ways. On the 

 31st of May I found a nest and three 

 eggs of the Swainson's Warbler. The 

 nest was placed between two or three 

 upright shoots of a second growth 

 bush about 5% feet above ground; 

 $ flushed. The nest was about 100 

 feet from the head of a mill pond in 

 clump of second growth bushes. Two 

 weeks later I again visited this local- 

 ity and found a finished nest which 

 I presume had been built by the same 

 pair of birds, but although I didn't 

 touch the nest or any branch within 

 several feet of it, the nest was never 

 occupied. This is the first breeding 

 pair of Swainson's Warbler I have 

 seen in this section, and is, I believe, 

 a record for north of James River. On 

 May 23d my father secured at the 

 place a set of two eggs and female of 

 Chuck Wills. Since then I have seen 

 several pair flying albout at 

 dusk, but previous to this date we 

 have never found them breeding on 

 the peninsula. I believe this to be 

 another record for north of James 

 River. The Bob Whites are now all 

 large enough to fly well, the dry sea- 

 son allowing full coi^ies', and we expect 

 a record numiber in this section. 

 Aug. 17th, 1908. 



H. H. BAILEY, 

 Newport News, Va. 



Birds of Maine. 



"Birds of Maine," published by the 

 author, Ora W. Knight, B. S., Bangor, 

 Me., 1908, 693 pp., cloth, $3.50 post- 

 paid. 



Written somewhat in Key style but 

 supplemented by a mass of valuable 

 notes for which the author admits his 



