50 



ORNITHOLOGIST. 



[Vol. 6-No. 7. 



took on the eighth of June, 1874, were 

 fresh. This nest was about two miles from 

 the place where I found those in 1874, and 

 I think it is a question if their breeding 

 here is to be regarded as merely accidental. 

 They might nest in some numbers through- 

 out New England without being discov- 

 ered, provided they always choose such se- 

 cluded homes as they do here. The nest 

 is placed near the ground, is well concealed, 

 and the bird when disturbed slips away 

 through the underbrush so quickly that 

 there is very small chance for seeing her. 

 In neither instance have I seen or heard 

 anything of the males, though in June, 1873, 

 I several times heard one singing in ihe vi- 

 cinity of where I found the nests the fol- 

 lowing year. — C. M. Jones, Eastford, Conn. 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker 



NESTING AT AUBURN, N. Y. 



By reference to the Aubin-n Daily Ad- 

 vertiser for September 6th, 1877, Mr. S. F. 

 Rathbun will find recorded tiie first authen- 

 ticated instance of the nesting of Sphyr.a- 

 picus varius in this vicinity. The circum- 

 stance of the "find" is as follows: June 

 30th, 1876, while collecting on Howland's 

 Island, in Seneca River, (a locality which, 

 were it thoroughly explored, would I doubt 

 not prove to be the nesting place of many 

 stragglers ot what are usually termed mi 

 gratory birds, whose breeding places are 

 commonly put by naturalists in the misty 

 regions known by the names Alaska, Lab- 

 rador, Saskatchevvan, &c.,) I heard the pe- 

 culiar hawk-like cry of a Yellow bellied 

 Woodpecker, and on looking around in a 

 short time discovered a male bird on a 

 beech stub near a Ireshly excavated hole. 

 I climbed up to it. While doing so the 

 bird darted around me, giving vent to its 

 anger and dislike of my proceedings by 

 loud cries. When I reached the hole I 

 found it was but about three or four inches 

 in depth. And tor some reason, probably 

 on account of my molestation, it was never 

 completed When I visited the place in 



about two weeks again I could neither see 

 or hear anything of the VVoodpecker. 



May i6th, 1878, my brother and I, while 

 collecting in a swamp about five miles west 

 of this city, observed a female of this spe- 

 cies carrying food to her young The nest 

 was in a black ash, about forty feet from 

 the ground. The bird made regular trips 

 with food every five minutes. This was 

 the same day and place where I took a set 

 of four 



Broad-winged Hawk's Eggs, the on- 

 ly set I have been fortunate enough to find. 

 This species I consider the rarest of all the 

 family Falconidae that breed in this sec- 

 tion of the country. — T J Wilson, M. D. 



Notes from Moosehead Lake, Me. 



'ihe following notes on some of the birds 

 about Moosehead Lake, Me , were made 

 during a fishing trip between the i ith and 

 2ist'of June of the present year, and are 

 necessarily brief, as but little time could be 

 devoted to ornithology. 



Thrushes. — The Olive-backed was the 

 most abundant of the Thrushes — its melo- 

 dious song being heard everywhere in the 

 woods bordering the lake. 



The Water Thrush Siurus nievius) was 

 quite common, and we often listened to 

 its peculiar song as it tminated from the 

 shy denizen of some swampy thicket. 



Flycatchers. — Several specimens of the 

 Olive- sided Flycatcher {Contopus borcalis 

 were noted and all had the habit of either 

 perching on the lops of tall dead pine or 

 spruce trees or choosing such trees as had 

 a ^^w dead branches at the top, from which 

 they would dart at frequent intervals after 

 their insect prey, returning again to the 

 branch and giving forth the peculiar note 

 of this interesting species. 



Swifts — But few specimens of the 

 Chimney Swift were seen and we were told 

 by our guide, Capt. Samuel Cole, who is 

 quite familiar with the birds of this region, 

 that a pair had a nest in the camp cabin at 

 the mouth of Little Moose Brook last year. 



