54 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 7. 



Close of the Season. 



The collector of eggs naturally divides 

 our short season into two parts — June and 

 July for birds, other than Raptores, and 

 April and May for hawks and owls These 

 divisions intergrade and are not arbitrary: 

 but they are sustained by the old catalogues 

 which gave first position to the biids of 

 prey, and by most of our cabinets to day 

 in which hawks and owls hold the place of 

 h«)nor. 



My Marsh Hawk of May 24th gave me 

 a second clutch of four eggs, June 17th, ex- 

 act copies of the first set. Near Kinman's 

 Birches, Lisbo;i, in June, I found a Marsh 

 Hawk's nest with three young and three 

 eggs. Now this hawk was two weeks lay- 

 ing this extreme clutch, four weeks more 

 in incubation, and would have occupied the 

 rest of the season rearing her young. In- 

 deed it is probable that no hawk or owl 

 throughout the New England range of 

 breeding ever has two clutches if undis- 

 turbed. 



June 7th, a red squirrel ate a fine set of 

 Yellow-throated Vireos which I had marked 

 down, but swift retribution overtook him 

 the following Sunday when an irate farmer 

 shot him in a door-yard with an unfledged 

 robin in his claws. I have maintained that 

 nowhere else do the Buteos and Accipiters 

 breed more freely than in New London 

 County. Now it could be shown by relia- 

 ble data that this is also the banner county 

 for several of the Warblers. June ^d, I 

 took eight full sets of eggs of Blue Yellow- 

 backs; a week later Brand and Wade found 

 eleven nests, new and old of this species, 

 and later still this season, in half a day 

 Brand found eight nests of Chestnut-sided, 

 four of Prairie, and some undetermined 

 warblers, all with young. 



Following the tardy vegetation, the sea- 

 son was ten days late for most of our small 

 birds. Extremes of weather du not affect 

 owls and some other birds which can be 

 named, but cold, wet Junes kill young 

 Ruffed Grouse and delay the breeding of 



Warblers and their allies. The average 

 difference between this season and the last, 

 as shown by my notes, is about ten days for 

 the following species: Yellow- breasted 

 Chat, Blue Yellow-back, Maryland Yellow- 

 throat, Prairie and Chestnut-sided War- 

 blers. 



May 14th, I saw a Redstart select a site 

 and begin its nest, but nidification was ex- 

 tremely slow owing to constant rain, and it 

 was not until May 31st that the clutch of 

 four eggs was complete Sunday, May 23d, 

 a hummer began its nest on an apple tree 

 under my window where every movement 

 could be watched. The few hours of sun- 

 shine toward night it made good use of, and 

 worked at intervals the next day though it 

 rained steadily. " After the flood came the 

 deluge," and Wednesday the hummer ap- 

 peared discouraged, and Thursday it was 

 seen for the last time. Now the rain of 

 course has an influence on the adaptability 

 of the building materials, but it seemed 

 plain that the hummer connected the ide^ 

 of locality with this endless downpour, and 

 thinking the fault was in the situation of 

 the nest deseted it for another and drier 

 site. 



The collecting season really lasts but 

 three months, for the two or three species 

 breeding in March are rarely found and the 

 eggs taken here in July are inconsiderable. 

 Indeed our brief season punctually closes 

 on the first of July. Thereatter the heat 

 and dense vegetation militate against suc- 

 cessful collecting, and the presence of 

 squabs and fledgelings in great numbers 

 has a depressing effect upon the spirits of 

 the egg enlluisiast. It is not unpleasant, it 

 is true, at times to hear the shrilling of 

 young Downies, and it is amusing to pound 

 on a tree in which are young Wacups, for 

 they make a noise like a swarm of bees 

 when newly hatched, and later like the 

 winding of a clock Even when well grown 

 their clamor is endurable compared with 

 the distressing quavering of Oriole fledge- 

 lings heard on every hand early in July. 

 I have climbed to hundreds of crows' nests 



