164 



THE OOLOOIST yj (jC) 



Mr. William Brewster in his "Birds 

 of the Cambridge Region" includes it 

 as a probable breeder in his district 

 because birds in juvenile plumage 

 have been taken there also. 



The hills where I found these larks 

 breeding are in Middlesex County and 

 are directly between Essex County 

 and the region of which Mr. Brewster 

 writes, but are not included within 

 the limits described in either book. 



I think this is the first time that a 

 nest of this sub-species has been 

 actually found in this county. The 

 action of the birds were quite similar 

 around both the nests which contained 

 eggs. The female would always leave 

 the nest before I got near enough to 

 see her, and my first glimpse of her 

 would be while she was walking away 

 slowly and apparently feeding. 



Uusally the male bird would soon 

 join her and they would walk ahead 

 of me until they reached the edge of 

 the pasture and then they would fly 

 back within a short distance of the 

 nest and begin to run around and feed 

 once more. 



On April 21st, after spending much 

 time in a vain search for the nest in 

 Wakefield, I finally drove the birds 

 to the edge of the pasture and then 

 watched the female as she flev;- back 

 toward the center once more and 

 alighted on a rock. I kept out of sight 

 as much as possible and waited to see 

 what she would do. After a few 

 minutes hesitation, she walked down 

 off the rock and went straight to the 

 nest and resumed incubating. 



When we found the young birds in 

 the nest at Stoneham, on April 29th, 

 the parents were quite tame and re- 

 mained close by as we looked at the 

 young ones. 



I believe this sub-species is a com- 

 paratively recent addition to the avi- 

 fauna of eastern Massachusetts, but 

 possibly a careful search might prove 



them to be more common than we ex- 

 pect. This is my first experience with 

 them in nearly twenty years of active 

 field work. 



The Boston Society of Natural Hist- 

 ory has on exhibition a set of eggs of 

 these birds which were taken in Nor- 

 folk County by Mr. F. S. Kennard, and 

 it is very evident that they are grad- 

 ually extending their breeding range. 

 Horace O. Green, 

 Wakefield, Mass. 



Books Received 



In the Haunts of the Swanson's 

 Warbler" by M. T. Cleckley, this little 

 pamphlet containing a title page, a 

 page of introductory matter and three 

 pages of descriptive matter and four 

 half tones as the title indicates, gives 

 the experiences of the writer in col- 

 lecting eggs of this rare species in 

 the vicinity of Augusta, Georgia, in 

 which he makes the stateemnt that 

 he has collected seventy-three sets, 



truly a splendid series. 

 * * * 



"From Tasmania," — few of the many 

 publications reaching our desk are 

 perused with more interest than the 

 annual description of the Tasmanian 

 Field Naturalist Club annual camp- 

 outs. 1916 and '17 reports of which 

 has just reached us. In 1916 thirty- 

 five members of the club camped at 

 a point on the island of Tasmania 

 called Eagle Hawk neck and in 1917 

 thirty-three members of the club 

 camped at Wedge Bay, Tasmania. 

 Each of these reports are illustrated 

 by a considerable number of well 

 goten up half tones and each are di- 

 vided in first, a general history of the 

 expedition; second. Botanical notes; 

 third. Zoological report; fourth. En- 

 tomological report and fifth. Ornitho- 

 logical report. The latter, of course, 

 being to the writer the most interest- 

 ing. 



