THE OOLOQI8T 



14'3 



ing low down but postponed the ex- 

 ploration of the swamp tor a sunny 

 day. Birds were singing everywhere 

 so I went along between the narrow 

 gauge and the swamp for some dis- 

 tance where low hemlock was plenti- 

 ful. I found three Magnolia Warblers' 

 nests but nothing unusual about them 

 as I could hear Blackburnians sing- 

 ing. Up the hill farther I crossed 

 the narrow gauge. I looked along the 

 tracks for Juncos and found a Hermit 

 Thrush at home on three eggs among 

 the ferns-. There is a water tank in 

 this woods and the water is piped 

 from a large spring up the side hill. I 

 went to the spring for a drink and sat 

 down awhile when my attention was 

 attracted by the actions of a pair of 

 Brown Creepers. I watched them and 

 soon located the nest as they were 

 feeding young. The nest was only 

 eight feet from the ground in a very 

 large birch tree. This birch tree has 

 loose bark curled into rolls and inside 

 one of these rolls the Creepers had 

 gone to housekeeping. The nest con- 

 tained large young, but I couldn't tell 

 how many without taking a chance on 

 breaking the piece off. I intended to 

 go back after the young had gone and 

 get the nest, but never did Creepers 

 annually nest in the swamp under the 

 bark of old dead hemlock stubs but 

 whether they still do I couldn't say as 

 I haven't been in the swamp in nest- 

 ing time for several years. 



There was a' great many clumps of 

 low hemlocks and I fairly combed 

 these with the result that I found two 

 nests of Black-throated Blue Warblers. 

 One contained two eggs and the other 

 was just finished and both were pretty 

 structures, being composed of much 

 fine yellow and whitish strips of dead 

 wood. Also found a Magnolia Warb- 

 ler on a low nest containing three 

 eggs. Coming to considerable second 



growth hemlock I looked all about for 

 a possible Blackburnian nest. I final- 

 ly saw a nest saddled on a limb and 

 went up but the owner was a female. 

 Black-throated Green. This nest was 

 about 25 feet up and eight feet out on 

 a large limb. It held four eggs. While 

 up in this tree I noticed a Tanager's 

 nest in a hemlock to one side. By 

 climbing up above I could see eggs 

 but couldn't tell how many without 

 disturbing it as it was out on a high 

 limb. 



My next find was a Magnolia fully 

 40 feet up in a hemlock. I couldn't tell 

 what it was from the grounds so 

 climbed up, but of course didn't bother 

 it after making sure of the owner. In 

 an extensive patch of low hemlock 

 brush I found another Black-throated 

 Blue's nest holding two eggs. A Tana- 

 ger's nest was low in a hemlock and 

 contained one egg and was followed 

 by two more Magnolias. One 15 feet 

 up and the other eight feet up both 

 contained four eggs. 



This was followed by another Black- 

 throated Blues nest all finished and 

 ready for eggs, and I wound up by 

 finding still another Magnolia's in the 

 top of a small hemlock. 



This made 18 nests in this piece of 

 yoods , including four Black-throated 

 Blues which is as many of the Blues 

 as I could find in a whole season if I 

 tried hard. Although I didn't find 

 much that I wanted my collection was 

 richer by three good sets and I had 

 the pleasure of finding and examin- 

 ing a few fine Warblers' nests beside 

 seeing many birds and a few mam- 

 mals. 



R. B. Simpson. 



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