436 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



with fallen logs, stumps left from early lumbering operations, and 

 roots of up-turnecl trees, all forming a tangle so discouraging that 

 a close search of even one local habitat would involve an entire 

 season's sole and exacting labor. In these circumstances, to get a 

 fair idea of numbers in the limited time available — the last half 

 of the nesting period — it was deemed best to select typical portions 

 of each minor habitat. At the time of my arrival at the Summer 

 Camp, June 22, many of the birds of the neighborhood were 'feeding 

 their young in the nests, or else had their first broods already on 

 the wing, and July was well begun before the areas were exactly 

 defined. Ordinary methods of making a census of birds in open 

 country were here impracticable, and I had to devise one for the 

 case in hand. Day after day the number of singing males in an 

 area was estimated, generally early in the forenoon and frequently 

 towards the end of the afternoon, when the songsters are at their 

 best. Adult birds caring for young either in the nests or on the 

 wing in the shrubbery, were regularly noted in each area, until 

 nearly every family was approximately located and its movements 

 known. One unfamiliar with an Adirondack burned tract or clear- 

 ing of any kind, or with the ordinary bog or bog forest, can scarcely 

 realize the meaning of a task involving a detailed search for nesting 

 birds in one of these typical habitats. Berry thickets grow in a 

 dense tangle, and overturned trees interpose masses of roots clogged 

 with soil and rock fragments, thus shutting off the view ahead, and 

 offering barriers skirted or surmounted with toilsome effort (figure 

 129) ; while hidden cavities of all sorts form pitfalls into which the 

 searcher is continually sinking leg-deep. 



The Campus and its fringe of trees and bushes comprise approxi- 

 mately 4 acres. The following birds nested in this area: Robin, 

 1 pair ; a White-breasted Nuthatch roosted regularly in a hole at 

 the top of a dead stub, but was not nesting there at this time; Red- 

 eyed Vireo, 1 pair, 2 broods ; Cedar Waxwing, 3 pairs ; Bank 

 Swallow, 10 pairs, in the sandbank margin facing the Lake; Song 

 Sparrow, 2 pairs ; Slate-colored Juneo, Chipping Sparrow, Alder 

 Flycatcher and Kingfisher, 1 pair each. These figures show a total 

 of 10 pairs, an average of 2.5 pairs to an acre ; or, by including 

 the sandbank birds, we have 21 pairs, making an average of more 

 than 5 pairs to the acre. 



In the Partial Clearing, "of about 4 acres, were found nesting : 

 Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Catbird and 

 Mourning W'arbler, 1 pair each ; Chestnut-sided Warbler, 2 pairs ; 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 1 pair ; Red-eyed Vireo, 2 pairs ; 

 Rose.-breasted Grosbeak, Song Sparrow, Least Flycatcher, Wood 

 Pewee and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 1 pair each; or 15 pairs in all. 



The Habitation Clearing measures approximately 8 acres, and its 

 nesting residents were as follows : Olive-backed Thrush, 2 pairs ; 

 House Wren, 2 pairs; Catbird. 1 pair; Redstart, 2 pairs; Yellow- 

 throat, 3 pairs ; Chestnut-sided Warbler, 1 pair ; Nashville Warbler, 

 1 pair ; Red-eyed Vireo, 1 pair ; Cedar Waxwing", 2 pairs ; Rose- 



