THE OOLOGIST 



329 



we were more successful and .jumped 

 them on several occasions, and one 

 day while fishing in a deep pool on the 

 big creek, three deer walked right up 

 to me, but certainly exceeded the 

 speed limit on becoming aware of my 

 presence. 



There were quite a few Wildcats 

 (Bay Lynx( too, and one cloudy after- 

 noon, while sitting on a big rock 

 watching a pair of Yellow-bellied 

 Woodpeckers feed their young, a large 

 cat walked out from behind a rock 

 not thirty feet away. We were both 

 surprised, but Mr. Cat did not seem 

 in a hurry to make a get-away. He 

 sized me up at his leisure, then turn- 

 ed about and the last I saw of him 

 was his bob-tail as it disappeared 

 from view behind the rock. They are 

 surely a ferocious looking thing 

 though. 



There was a fine variety of birds 

 about our camp and every morning at 

 daybreak we were greeted by a great 

 bird chorus. There were more birds 

 in the slashing than in the heavy tim- 

 ber, but of course many kinds of birds 

 found in the timber would not be found 

 in the open, and again many were 

 found in the open slashings that never 

 were seen in the heavy woods. Situ- 

 ated as we were so close to the woods, 

 we got both the melody from the 

 woods and the chorus from the slash- 

 ing. 



Close to camp along the edge of 

 the timber, a pair of Olive-sided Fly- 

 catchers had located and the loud 

 harsh call of the male was one of the 

 common bird notes as he sat high up 

 on a big dead stub. Above cam]) a 

 little ways, a pair of Yellow-bellied 

 Woodpeckers had a nest, and every 

 morning about daylight the male bird 

 had a habit of alighting on the roof 

 and hammering away. We called him 

 our alarm clock. Altogether I noted 

 73 species there and all no doubt were 



ffr 



breeding. Such birds as the Meadow- 

 Lark, Vesper and Savanna Sparrows. 

 Blackbirds, etc., were of course entire- 

 ly absent as there were no fields. 



The only water birds were the King- 

 fisher and Great Blue Heron. The 

 Kingfisher follows up all the larger 

 mountain streams in quest of trout 

 and the Herons were nestling in the 

 big pine. Wood Duck were said to 

 summer on the big creek but I saw 

 none at all. Deep in the forest at the 

 mouth of one of the branches, we 

 lound a family of Woodcock which 

 rather surprised me, as I always 

 thought they frequented more open 

 country. Sharp-shinned, Cooper, Red- 

 shouldered Hawks were about every 

 day, and two miles away in the slash- 

 ing, a pair of Sparrow Hawks had sel 

 up housekeeping. 



Barred, Horned and Schreech Owls 

 were heard every night, and the for- 

 mer two we frequently saw. 



The big stubs in the slashings were 

 well liked by the Woodpecker tribe 

 and the Hairy, Downy, and Flicker 

 were common. There were several 

 pairs of Red-heads near camp and the 

 Yellow-bellied was not at all rare as 

 we frequently met with them; and not 

 a day did we spend in the woods but 

 what we saw the Pileated. 



As dusk approached, the Whip-poor- 

 wills tuned up. They were tame and 

 often alighted on the camp. 1 improv- 

 ed the opportunity to learn something 

 of their habits. Nighthawks were 

 quite common about the barren ri : 

 A pair of Kingbirds were about the 

 old mill, and a pair of Phoebes nest- 

 ed in our camp. Everywhere in the 

 forest, the Wood Pewee was common. 



According to our woodsman friend, 

 Ravens had been found there the year 

 round up to a few years previous to 

 our visit. 



Small flocks of Crossbills were seen 

 nearly every day, and on several occa- 



