Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 471 



their activities to the locality. I believe that the elders were 

 acquainting the juveniles with the locality in order that the latter 

 might have an available nesting place another season. 



Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Archilochus colubris (Linn.) 



The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is associated with almost every 

 aspect of the forest except the primeval woods. It darts among 

 the shrubbery of the clearings everywhere, attracted by the blos- 

 soms of the various fruit and berry shrubs and bushes. In the 

 Partial Clearing there was a place high up on an old birch where 

 the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were resorting daily for sips of sap. 

 A pair of Hummingbirds frequented the spot, and at almost any 

 hour of the day one or another of these hummers, or both of 

 them, could be noted either hovering at the holes or else perched 

 on a dead twig near at hand waiting for another taste of the con- 

 tents of the sap-cups. One or more of the Sapsuckers was certain 

 to be clinging at the most productive holes, and in that case the 

 Hummingbird would hover at places on the other side of the tree. 

 I never observed that the Sapsuckers made any demonstration 

 against the Hummingbirds, though when one of the latter would 

 dart in and find the Sapsuckers there the Hummingbird would 

 usually withdraw and perch near by to wait for the woodpecker to 

 shift its position at the sap holes. 



Insects also, probably small flies and bees, were flying around 

 the perforations, but neither the Hummingbird nor the Sapsuckers 

 seemed to pay any attention to them. It was evident that the sap 

 was the chief desideratum with these bird visitors ; and usually, after 

 taking a sip from the holes, the Hummingbird would fly away in 

 a well defined direction through the open woods, as if to visit a 

 nest not far off. 



Chimney Swift. Chcvt/ura pelagica (Linn.) 



The Chimney Swift belongs to an open habitat, mainly over 

 the land. Like the Bank Swallow the Chimney Swift seems 

 to devote considerable attention to training its young for its aerial 

 evolutions. Once, as they were coursing over the Burn with their 

 young on the wing, the elders were observed to swerve into the 

 top of a tall dead tree and touch a terminal dry twig with their 

 feet. At first I wondered at this action, as the nest-building sea- 

 son was past, and the birds could have no need of the twigs. As 

 they repeated these feats, however, it appeared to me that they 

 were seeking to induce the juveniles to attempt the same thing, 

 and I concluded that I was witnessing a lesson in twig gathering 

 as a preparation for the next season's nest building. 



* Nighthawk. Chordeiles virginianus zirginianus (Gmel.) 

 The Nighthawk was not observed at Cranberry Lake by me in 

 1916, but Eaton ('14, p. 167) states that it " is found in every 

 county of the State as a summer resident, but is somewhat local 

 in its breeding:." 



