328 



THE OOLOGIST 



blown out of the trees. I have never 

 known the eggs to be taken or an oc- 

 cupied nest to be found. 



No. 766, Blue Bird (Sialia sialis sia- 

 lis). Not one-tenth as common a 

 breeder as it was twenty years ago. 

 The cause is two-told: first, the freeze 

 which killed off most of this species 

 in the south some years ago; second, 

 the English Sparrow stealing its nest- 

 ing places and destroying its nests, 

 eggs and young. 



With the above corrections and addi- 

 tions I believe the list first referred 

 to be an accurate list of the breeding 

 birds of this county. 



R. M. Barnes. 

 Lacon, 111. 



On the Tionesta. 



A few years ago while still going to 

 school, a chum and myself spent about 

 a month of our vacation with a woods- 

 man who was taking it easy for 

 awhile, after having been badly injur- 

 ed while cutting timber. 



He had a camp on one of the small- 

 er branches at the head of the Big 

 Tionesta Creek in this county, and 

 near the Forest County line. We went 

 in June 1st and stayed about all 

 month, only coming out a couple of 

 times for grub. 



A large tract of virgin timber, most- 

 ly hemlock, but with considerable 

 beech, oak, chestnut, etc., in places, 

 covered this region. At the very head 

 of the Tionesta was a fine tract of 

 huge white pine. The country between 

 this big woods and the river was lum- 

 bered over and consisted of slashing, 

 jungle, second-growth and scattered 

 timber. In the slashings, many huge 

 stubs stood about. The country is 

 rough and rocky. On manv ridges 

 are piled up numbers of huge rocks 

 of sandstone and white gravel. The 

 streams are clear and cold and fed by 

 numerous ice cold springs. The beds 



of these streams were rock sand and 

 fine white gravel. 



Our camp was near the head spring 

 of one of the branches and within a 

 stone's throw of the timber. A barn 

 -Id x 60 built of white pine timbers 

 still stood by the ruins of an old saw 

 mill and overhead in one corner on 

 the stringers, deer hunters had built 

 a snug room in which we stayed. 



Our grub we packed in. A farmer, 

 four miles away, who was our nearest 

 neighbor furnished us with bread and 

 pies. 



Trout fishing was good and we spent 

 many happy hours after the speckled 

 fellows. 



This woodsman was quite an expert 

 bee-hunter and that summer, found 

 and cut twenty-four bee-trees. A num- 

 ber of these were found and cut while 

 we were there. Although early for 

 honey, we had all we could eat; also 

 all the stings we desired. Twenty of 

 these swarms were saved and hauled 

 out the following winter on bob- 

 sleds. 



Nearby was a rocky ridge overgrown 

 with huckleberry brush and sweet 

 ferns and known as a great place for 

 rattlesnakes. We crossed this ridge 

 on several occasions while lining bees 

 and killed two large rattlers, but near 

 our camp and along the streams we 

 found none. There was a family of 

 Flying Squirrels in the old barn and 

 the Red or Pine Squirrel was very 

 common. The large Blacks and Grays 

 were rather scarce as there was too 

 much pine and hemlock. 



Porcupines were a nuisance and 

 paid nightly visits to our camp where 

 they chewed and fussed about so that 

 we had to get up at night frequently 

 and shoot one to stop the noise. 



Returning one evening we caught a 

 coon in camp and chained him up. 

 There were plenty of signs of Bear, 

 but we did not see any. With deer 



