THE OOLOGIST 



201 



amount of timber taken from the Con- 

 necticut woods during ttie last five 

 years, the woodpeckers are holding 

 their own in this section of the state. 

 Fortunately there are many large es- 

 tates in Connecticut upon which there 

 are large tracts of good old forest 

 land which is now free for ever from 

 the lumberman. These tracts will un- 

 doubtedly prove to be life savers to 

 the birds w^hose previous haunts have 

 been destroyed, and will also tend to 

 increase the numbers of those who 

 make their home in the skeletons of 

 our forest trees. 



Let us hope they will continue to 

 increase, and let us see some other 

 notes from other parts of the country 

 about this family of birds, who can- 

 not fail to interest every ornithologist 

 and agriculturist. 



Paul G. Homes. 



After Birds and Eggs. 



June 3d, 1901 was a lovely day, not 

 too warm, but just right for a long 

 ramble. Before the sun was up I was 

 on my way to my favorite hunting 

 grounds down the river. Crossing the 

 river in my boat I landed in the mouth 

 of a mountain stream and was at the 

 upper end of a large tract of wild 

 land known as "Grass Flats." 



A search along the river on the low- 

 er flat resulted in finding many soft 

 shelled turtles sunning on the gravel 

 bars. The soft shell is clean and 

 mighty good eating. They are wary 

 too, so crawling up to a bunch I shot 

 a fine big fellow to take along home. 



The ground on this lower flat is 

 carpeted with a luxuriant growth of 

 nettles, wild flowers, skunk cabbage 

 and weeds and is a favorite resort of 

 the Mourning Warbler. There are sev- 

 eral ponds and a sluggish deep bayou 

 on this flat also, and the place is in- 

 fected by millions of blood thirsty 

 mosquitoes. 



While going along I quite acciden- 

 tally saw a nest in a bunch of weeds. 

 It was almost on the ground and judg- 

 ing from its appearance and the three 

 eggs it contained I was certain it was 

 the Mourner. This afterwards proved 

 correct, for on my next trip down I 

 found the female at home on four 

 fresh eggs. 



At the lower end of the flats in a 

 meadow I found a colony of Bobolinks. 

 After a fruitless search I started for 

 the edge of the timber which is very 

 extensive at this place. 



Right at the edge of the woods I 

 saw a bird alight on the very top of 

 a huge white pine stub. I watched 

 it make several excursions after in 

 sects and then putting in a shell heav- 

 ily loaded with No. 10 shot I turned 

 loose my "Parker" and down came a 

 fine adult male Olive Flycatcher and 

 not a feather mussed. 



Along the stream I found a grove 

 of sweet scented wild crab apples in 

 full bloom, and darting about were sev- 

 eral Hummers. With a squib load I 

 secured a male. Circling around I 

 came back onto the second flat into 

 a dense swamp of mostly pine and 

 hemlock. Birds were plentiful so 1 

 went slow and looked sharp. In a lit- 

 tle hemlock I found a new neat nest 

 from which later on I secured a set of 

 four Black throated Green Warblers. 

 Several pairs of Blackburnians were 

 about but their nests were too well 

 hidden. 



A Magnolia Warbler's nest contain- 

 ing four eggs and a Tanager's con- 

 taining two were found nearby. 



Hai)pening to peer into a clump of 

 low hemlock brush I spied a Black- 

 throated Blue Warbler sitting on a 

 beautiful nest and four eggs. In the 

 top of a small pine tree was a Green 

 Heron's nest with four young. 



I had just found and was examining 

 a Magnolia Warbler's nest when a 



