Notes from Field and Study 



209 



more than two feet deep anywhere. When 

 I first noticed them, they were in close to 

 the bank, but of course they saw me the 

 moment I started to approach and swam 

 out into deeper water. The female was the 

 shyer of the two, and seemed to communi- 

 cate some of her uneasiness to her mate. 

 At the end of an hour, during which I 

 made several attempts to get near enough 

 to identify them, I accidentally flushed 

 the pair, and they flew off to another 

 nearby mud-hole. However, in less than 

 five minutes, both of them came back and 

 once more fell to feeding. I now startled 

 them once more and they repeated their 

 former tactics. This gave me an idea as 

 to how to proceed; accordingly I flushed 

 them a third time, and while they were 

 gone waded out and crouched on a parti- 

 ally submerged mud flat in the center of 

 the pond. Although absent longer than 

 before, I soon had the satisfaction of seeing 

 them fly over my head and alight a very 

 short distance away. And now for at 

 least an hour I watched them at a distance 

 not exceeding eighty-five feet at any time. 

 Part of the hour they dabbled in the shal- 

 low water, then they arranged their plum- 

 age, and finally the female went to sleep 

 while the male kept watch. Neither seemed 

 in the least afraid, except when I moved 

 my cramped position. At about three- 

 thirty the female awoke and, after looking 

 around for some time, they sprang into 

 the air and disappeared in the direction 

 of the river. Although I waited almost 

 half an hour longer, they did not return 

 and I was forced to leave. — Archie 

 Hagae, Newtonville, Mass. 



Blue- Gray Gnatcatcher in Massachusetts 



I wish to record the occurrence of a Blue- 

 gray Gnatcatcher in Seaview, Marshfield, 

 Plymouth county, Mass., on April 30 of 

 this year. I found the bird at about half- 

 past seven, feeding in company with 

 several Chickadees in a fairly thick growth 

 of wild cherries, birches and maples on a 

 sunny hillside facing the south. It occa- 

 sionally picked some small object from a 

 crevice in the bark, but more often darted 



into the air after a passing insect as the 

 Redstart does. The song, which I heard 

 several times, was rather broken and 

 evidently not the best effort of the bird. 

 The alarm-note was uttered constantly. 



Twice, in the space of three-quarters of 

 an hour, I approached within five feet, 

 although the bird stayed pretty well to 

 the tops of the trees or, more properly 

 speaking, saplings. Except for the Chick- 

 adees it was entirely alone. — Archie 

 Hagar. NeivtoHviUe, Mass. 



Additional Evening Grosbeak Records 



Norwich Town, Conn. — I first saw 

 Evening Grosbeaks at Norwich Town, 

 March 13, 191 1, four days after they 

 were last seen in Taftville. I have seen 

 them almost every day and they are still 

 here (May 3, 1911). The first day I 

 counted thirty-six on the ground at one 

 time. Later fourteen males on the ground 

 within a few feet of me. I have found 

 them in hemlock and arborvitas trees and 

 often in maples or on the ground under 

 them. — Alice L. Allis. 



Fair Haven, N. J., on the North 

 Shrewsbury River, four miles from the 

 coast. — With another bird lover, I have 

 had a new pleasure this morning (April 

 26, 1911) in watching three Evening Gros- 

 beaks, — one male and two female, — which 

 have spent several hours in the wild cherry 

 trees on our place. They seemed quite 

 unmindful of our near presence. Sitting 

 in stolid quiet for fifteen minutes at a time, 

 with the clear light showing every feather 

 of their beautiful coloring. They were 

 feeding on the cherry buds, the females 

 uttering occasionally a strong, clear note 

 which I can still hear, as I write. — Belle 

 Cheney Cooke. 



PiTTSTON, Lackawanna Co., Pa. — On 

 the afternoon of February 22, 1911, eight 

 Evening Grosbeaks, five of which were 

 adult males, were seen feeding in a poplar 

 tree at this place. Among others the birds 

 were observed by Dr. W. L. Hartman, 

 Dr. Harold J. Gibby, Mr. H. W. Roberts, 

 and Professor Marvin, all of Pittston. — 

 E. W. Campbell. 



