DELAWARE VAULiEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 19 



frightened off. Occasionally Butter-balls are seen, and once a 

 Whistler. One Mallard and two Black Ducks are the only rec- 

 ords I have of these species, but there have been several Red- 

 breasted Mergansers and one American Merganser. The Pied- 

 billed Grebe is often seen in the spring or fall, a Great Blue 

 Heron stops occasionally, the Night Heron and the Green 

 Heron are comparatively common, the Wilson's Snipe some- 

 times drops into the meadow in the early spring, the Solitary 

 Sandpiper is a regular migrant, the cry of the Kildeer is a 

 familiar sound, while the Spotted Sandpiper is common through- 

 out the valley. 



Turning northward we come at once to the old turnpike bridge 

 with its two stone arches. Here looking back to boyhood, I can 

 remember when the Rough-winged Swallows used to build in 

 the cracks and crannies of these same stone arches, but that is 

 very ancient history. Above the bridge we have a meadow on 

 the right bank of the stream and a wooded hillside on the left. 

 Then the Tacony takes a sharp bend to the eastward and im- 

 mediately we find ourselves at the back doors of a crumbling, 

 but picturesque old village. The mill which once gave employ- 

 ment to the community is now a ruin, and several of the houses 

 are fast falling to decay, while the best of them give but poor 

 shelter to the human derelicts who still inhabit them. A small 

 and long-deserted quarry, now much overgrown, indents the 

 hillside to the right before you come to the village. Here, 

 years ago a few Bank Swallows nested, and on several occasions 

 the Kingfisher selected this spot for his tunneling. 



At this village we have another dam and just below it another 

 stone bridge ; this one being a three-arched structure. In the 

 crevices of this bridge the White-bellied Swallows used to build 

 when the Rough-winged frequented the lower bridge, but many 

 years have passed since this occurred, and now only the Phoebe 

 darts in and out to her mossy nest beneath the cool, gray arches. 

 Clumps of willows and alders and tangles of swampy growth 

 make good bird ground about the headwaters of the pond. 

 Here dwell the Song and the Swamp Sparrows, the Maryland 

 Yellow-throat and Red-winged Blackbird. One can frequently 

 find the nest of the Yellow Warbler, while the Indigo Bunting 



