78 



THE OOLOGIST 



ty, however. The strange disappear- 

 ance suggests that they may be local 

 in distribution and of a wandering 

 nature, — though this does not agree 

 with my conception of a wren. While 

 I was sleeping outside in the winter 

 of 1916 a pair of these birds used to 

 come to the bed and perched on the 

 places where my toes made little 

 mountains out of the bed coverings, 

 would scold and chatter and look sus- 

 picious when I would open my eyes 

 or wiggle my toes. 



132. House Wren 



The status of this species is quite 

 ,the reverse of the preceeding. The 

 absence of the house wren in 1914 and 

 1915 was very apparent, but with the 

 decline of the numbers of the Carolina 

 has come an increase of the House, 

 until in 1919 every old orchard has itB 

 gay little wrens. 



133. Winter Wren 



Regular and rather common winter 

 resident. They are peculiar little fel- 

 lows, running about like wee mice 

 among the brush heaps. 



134. Brown Creeper 



Rather abundant winter resident. 



135. White Breasted Nuthatch 

 Very common permanent resident. 



136. Brown Headed Nuthatch 



The discovery of a pair of these birds 

 in May of 1919 caused no little wonder 

 to me. The birds were evidently 

 mated, from all indications, but I can 

 scarcely think of their nesting in the 

 county. 



137. Tufted Tit 



Abundant. I had the delightful ex- 

 perience of taming one of these birds 

 so that he would eat nuts out of my 

 hand. I did not succeed at all with 

 the chickadees. The only Tit nest I 

 found with eggs was in a high stub 

 of a locust tree. The nest contained 

 six eggs of the owner and one of the 

 cowbird, and was placed about a foot 



and half down from the entrance. It 

 has been a matter of wonder with me 

 whether the cowbird regularly enters 

 the nests of such type. This is the 

 first occurrence of such in my experi- 

 ence. 



138. Chickadee 



From all I can determine the Caro- 

 lina form does not occur here, though 

 it seems probable to me that it will 

 be found. 



139. Golden Crowned Kinglet 

 Abundant in fall migration and 



through the winter irregularly. 



140. Ruby Crowned Kinglet 



More common in spring migration 

 than the preceeding and rarer in the 

 winter. 



141. Blue Gray Gnatcatcher 



This is one of the most characteristic 

 birds of the region inhabiting the open 

 woodland. The nests are very easy to 

 find, since the birds are not at all 

 secretive when near their nests. Dur- 

 ing the spring of 1919 I had no less 

 than nine nests under observation, — all 

 of which were placed on rather low 

 horizontal limbs. One male which T 

 was watching was leisurely d^nc n 

 about in the leaves singing his wheez. 

 little song, when suddenly he made a 

 direct flight to a horizontal limb where 

 quick as a wink he settled on a nest, — 

 having relieved the female of her 

 duties. By the casual observer the 

 nest would have been unnoticed since 

 the female left in exactly the sama 

 direction that the male was headed, 

 and the whole performance would 

 have given the impression of the flight 

 of but one bird. I noted such an epi- 

 sode but once. 



142. Wood Thrush 

 Common summer resident. 



143. Wilson Thrush 



The species may nest in the county, 

 though I have not ascertained this. 



