10 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Birds of Broome Co. , N. Y. 



It has often occnrreil to the writer, that 

 if one person in each county should write 

 an article for the Oologist on the kinds, 

 number and habits of the birds of his local- 

 ity, the whole would form a very compre- 

 hensive ornithology of the "United States. 

 This would be of no little value to the read- 

 ers of the magazine, by enabling them to 

 compare the birds of their locality with 

 those of any other ; and it would also aid 

 in settling some of the problems concerning 

 the migrations of birds. 



In hopes that our ornithologists and 

 oologists may be stimulated to take up 

 the work, the following is submitted : 



Broome county is rather a poor field for 

 the ornithologist. Owing to the absence 

 of any large body of water, very few 

 aquatic birds are seen within its limits. 

 Geese, Ducks, Loons, etc. are occasionally 

 found in fall and spring when they stop 

 to rest and feed, but go beyond the bounds 

 of our county to breed. Again, farther 

 south, the valley of the Susquehanna forms 

 a natural highway for the migrating birds; 

 but here the valley extends nearly east and 

 west and the birds have left it for a straight- 

 er course northward: therefore we are not 

 visited by so many rare migrants as other 

 favored localities. Our unfavorable posi- 

 tion, however, does not deter the more 

 common birds from visiting us each year, 

 and their lack of rarity is well made up by 

 their abundance. 



Of the Thrushes, the Robin and Wilson's 

 Thrush are the most common and about 

 equal in numbers; after them come the 

 Brown Thrush and Catbird, both quite 

 common; the Wood Thrush is somewhat 

 rare; and the Hermit occurs only as a 

 migrant. The Bluebird is quite common 

 in all parts of the county, and rather out- 

 numbers the Robins. 



Chickadees are common at all seasons of 

 the year; Nuthatches and Brown Creepers 

 not so plenty ; the Red-bellied Nuthatch is 

 a migrant with us. Two other very com- 

 mon spring and fall migrants are the 



Kinglets; for a week or two after their 

 arrival every wood is full of them. The 

 Golden-crowned leads his brother, the 

 Ruby, in point of numbers. 



We have the House Wren for a summer 

 resident, and the Marsh Wren for a mi- 

 grant. The Winter Wren also occurs oc- 

 casionally. 



The most common Warblers are the 

 Summer Yellowbird, Golden-crowned 

 Thrush, Maryland Yellow-throat, Redstart, 

 Yellow-breast Chat, and the C&pe May, 

 Black-throated Blue, Black -throated Green, 

 Black and yellow and Black and white 

 Creeping Warblers. The first five, only, 

 are summer residents. 



Of Vireos, we have the Red-eyed. White- 

 eyed, Warbling and Yellow-throated. Tlie 

 first is the most common. 



Cedar Waxwiogs are common, appearing 

 even in the winter when they feed on the 

 frozen apples which still hang on the trees. 



Except in a few favored localities, the 

 Barn and Cliff Swallow do not breed in 

 this county. The leading representative 

 of the tribe here, is the Bank Swallow. 

 The White-bellied Swallow is also becoming 

 quite common; it nests in bird -houses and 

 holes in trees. 



The Sparrows which occur as summer 

 residents, are named in the order of their 

 abundance, as follows: 



English, Song, Baj'-winged, Chipping, 

 Field, Savanna and Swamp. 



As migrants we have the White-throated, 

 White-crowned. Tree and Fox-colored Sjinr- 

 rows. The White-throated Sparrows gener- 

 ally migrate in company with the White- 

 crowned which they greatly outnumber. 



The Purple Finch is somewhat erratic in 

 its migrations; some seasons it is found in 

 large numbers and at others verj' few are 

 seen. It breeds sparingly in this county. 



The American Goldfinch and the Snow 

 Bunting are very common; the one in sum- 

 mer, and the other in winter ; in fall and 

 spring they are often seen at the same time. 

 The Black Snowbird occurs in syiring and 

 fall, but does not stay with us in winter 

 unless the weather is very mild. 



In uplands the Chewink is common and 



