26 



THK ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



fore came to the conclTision that it was still ris- The female was on the nest and did not fly off 

 ing or at least standing. ! until I pot most up to her, and then the male 



Knowing that there were two boats chained came to her assistance. They were very noisy, 

 farther np the river I proceede(l to them and ; and would alight within a few feet of me. The 

 found that the piers to which they had been | nest was built of first a layer of twigs, then a layer, 

 fastened were way under water and the boats , of roots, weeds and rags, then another of wool, 

 tied by short chains were now playing the part and inside of this was a lining of brussels. The 

 of submarine boats navigating the bottom of '■ nest contained five eggs marked with light brown 

 the river at the length of their chains, thus my on a dull whitish ground work. Average size 

 resources of navigation were cut oft; but neces- 1 1.07 x .78. 



sity knows no bounds and I, with my usual reck- j jjy j,gxt find of any account was on May 12, I 

 lessness, was determined to explore the river, ^q^^ij ,j,y g^m^ gj,^ started for a wood lot not far ■ 

 and so I made for an old barn fully a half inile ^ivr&y. As I was going along through the woods 

 away and soon returned with an armfull of wire, \ j ^^^ ^ p^jr of sharp shinned hawks in a small 

 used for putting up baled hay, and about birgj,. So I sat down on a stone to watch them. 

 twenty feet of an old clothes line that I begged j^g ggou ^g t^ey saw me, they flew to a limb a 

 of a woman at the house, and some nails, with fg^y fget over my head. As soon as they satisfied 

 the rope I captured two logs about a foot in themselves that I would not harm them they flew 

 diameter and about 12ft long. I found two pieces | ^^ .^ neighboring hemlock and perched themselves 

 of plank, evidently pieces of a bridge. They qj, ti,g ^p of it, I then crept up the tree, and saw 

 were about eight feet long and badly worn in I tf,g j,ggt .^yag ;„ jj j ^^g j,<jt iQj,g ;„ getting up 

 the middle. I.tried to break them there, but only : jo the nest and when I looked into the ne.st I felt 

 succeed in splitting them; this I didn't want to j jjj^g g(.j.gaj^j„g j,ig{jt Qj,f_ ^-^^ j^ contained three 

 do but I did it any way. I now laid the planks f^ggj, gg„g 'pjjg ^ggj ^gg oomposed wholly of 

 in the form of a letter x and nailed each of the ^ hemlock twigs, coaree ones on the out side, and 

 latteral extremities to one of the logs. I next j \\^f.^ ^ith finer ones. The eggs were blue, heav- 

 wired them together in the middle and put ; jiy blotched with reddish brown, average size 1.38 

 wires from log to log to keep them from sepe- 1x118 



rating. Next I wanted a seat, I took an old feed 1 ^^ ' ^^ j ^^^ ^ ^^ ^ ^i^;^.,^ .,j„„ 



box from the pasture fence and nailed .t to nay ^^ ^-^^^^ ^ ^^ ^^.-^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ 



letter X cut two forked sticks and nailed ami , ^ , hollowed which Was composed of leaves 

 wired them to the logs for row locks I cannot ] ^^/g^^gggg jj^g^ ^,^^^ ^^^^^ hair, it was placed on 

 say oar locks) and then with two poles (poor | ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ h^iv^^eri some stalks of golden 

 excuses for oars) I seated myself on the box and ; ^v^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^.^^ ^ ,^j,,j 



commenced to row my crude, yet servicable ; ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^, ^^^ ^^ ^^^ 



monly called a Man Friday) out , , , , kj-.^ snowed 



raft-boat (com 

 into the stream. 



nest, and as it was about dark the bird allowed 



^. . , ^ , t i.i,„„„ ' me to place my hat over the nest. On examining 



It 18 queer how fast one can row m one of these ^^^ j^._.^ .^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^j^^^ ^^^^^ y,-^mtT. 

 boats, and I accomplished a great deal more on ., ^^^^ ^^^^ ^ntributed three eggs which were 

 It than I expected One reason for the seeming • ^ ^ ^^^^ j^^ ^j^^^,., ^^ ^.^^ j g^j 



speed of It IS, that so much is not expected of ^^^^ ^^^-^^ ^^ jj,^^ ^^ ^i^^ ,4 



It as of even the crudest boat and if made prop- I ,, o j ^ 



erly they will more than meet your expectations. I •' ' . „ , . ., ^u 



As the plans for the above mentioned boat] Early on the morning of June 3rd, while watch- 

 might bfc of use to many adventurous naturalists ing a pair of hermit thrushes building a nest in 

 I would be pleased to give any information that ' the side of a large knoll overhung by aflat stone, I 

 inay be desired. ^ ' i saw a small bird fly to the knoll, and as 's did 



Well, I will continue to row my boat about ; not fly away again I went a httle nearer to the 



until next month. 



Fraternally Yours, 



Sam'l Wellington. 



A Seasons Collecting in Franklin Co. 

 Maine. 



BY J. MERTON SWAIN. 



bank, and saw the bird on a nest about four feet 

 from the thrushes nest. So I crept aronnd to the 

 back side of the knoll, and droped my hat over the 

 nest quickly, and reached under it, and found my 

 bird to be the Nashville Warbler. The nest was 

 a slight structure composed of grass and moss lined 

 with a few hairs, placed in a hollow made by the 

 birds. It contained five beautifnl eggs, they were 

 white with minute dots, over the entire surface, 

 but cheifly on the large end, of reddish brown. 

 Average size .65 x .49. 



May 30, as I climbed over a stone wall I flushed 

 a slate colored jnnco, and looking for the nest, I 



As I had good success collecting eggs last season, 

 I though that a few notes might not be amiss. 



I shall not attempt to speak of all the sets that '- ^ ., . .- „t„„„ v,„/i 



I collected L^st season. I shall only speak of a few I [onnd it placed under the sod where a stone had 

 of the rarer ones. been pulled out. It contained four fresh eggs. 



On May 9th as I was coming home from a trip I found several other nice sets, such as amet- 

 after hawks eggs, I noticed a male northern shrike lean woodcock, yellow bellied sapsucker, purple 

 in a small apple tree, and as it was in the vicinity ' finch, etc. which I haven't space to speak of. 

 of an old orchard, where I found a nest of young I I also found nests of the black throated green 

 shrik«s, the year before, I concluded that they | magnolia and myrtle warblers which contained 

 were nesting there again. On reaching the orch- young birds. 



ard I found the nest in an apple tree about fifteen j I will close this rather long article, hoping it 

 eet high. ' will be of interest to some one. 



4 



