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Bird - Lore 



BRIMLEY LOOKING INTO A WOOD DUCK'S NEST. ENTRANCE IS SEEN INSIDE 

 CIRCLE. PEEP HOLE IS VISIBLE JUST UNDER MR. BRIMLEY'S ARM 



farthest north of all the breeding groups of 

 Egrets of which I have knowledge in the 

 eastern United States. 



The bird-life on and about Orton Pond 

 is various and abundant. Prothonotary 

 and Yellow-throated Warblers are plenti- 

 ful. The cries of Chuck-Will's- Widows 

 were constantly in the air of evenings, and 

 the birds often came within sixty feet of 

 our camp. Mockingbirds, Brown Thrash- 

 ers, Catbirds, Orioles, and Carolina Wrens 

 were singing on all sides, while, clear above 

 all the melody of music, came the ringing 

 note of the Bob-White. Wood Ducks 

 were abundant. Two of their nests were 

 found in hollow trees. One nest, discovered 

 May 3, held eleven eggs and two days later 

 it was found that another had been added. 



A flourishing colony of breeding Ospreys 

 occupy Orton Pond. A survey of about 

 four-fifths of the pond yielded forty-two 

 nests, all but six of which were unquestion- 

 ably occupied. At this date eggs were 

 just being deposited and in only a few 

 cases did the actions of the birds indicate 

 that incubation had begun. The nests are 

 occupied for a great number of years and 

 become huge affairs four feet or more in 

 thickness. They appear to be built en- 

 tirely of dead pine limbs from which the 

 needles have fallen, but to which the bark 

 still adheres. The long gray moss {Til- 

 landsia) of the region appears to be the 

 only other material used, and the nests are 

 usually lined with it. At times long frag- 

 ments of moss become entangled in the 



