124 The Wilson Bulletin. 



MY SUMMER BOARDERS. SEASON 1902. 



BY WM. J. MILLS. 



My feathered boarders this season have been rather more 

 numerous, (but none the less interesting) than has been 

 the case in the past. My back and front yards cover 16 

 acres, with about 600 yards of good spring branch and 

 several wooded knolls and glens. Five pairs of Wood 

 Thrushes built their nests near the branch and all five 

 families raised their brood of four each without mishap. 

 Three pairs of Catbirds prepared to go to housekeeping but 

 were less fortunate; their eggs being taken in an effort to 

 minimize the annual toll exacted of my cherry trees. A 

 pair of Scarlet Tanagers built a beautiful nest in -the top of 

 a peach tree. The set of four eggs were taken because the 

 tanagers do considerable damage to my crop of grapes, and 

 1 didn't have a set of Scarlet Tanager eggs, so couldn't resist 

 the temptation to add a set to my collection. A pair of 

 Summer Tanagers built in an oak coppice close to the 

 house, from which I secured a set of three eggs on June 8th. 

 The vireos were here in a flock; no less than four pairs of 

 "Red-eyes" rearing broods successfully, with the addition of 

 three pairs of other and unidentified species of vireo. The 

 Carolina Wren was not so numerous as usual. I have had 

 as many as four pairs with young in different situations in 

 the barn and other outbuildings, but this season I noted only 

 one nest in an old paint bucket in my workshop and another 

 in the woods in a hollow stump five feet from the ground. 

 The aforesaid paint bucket was occupied through the winter 

 by a pair of flying squirrels, and a pair of youngsters first 

 saw the light therein early in February. Judging from the 

 actions of the bird, what was taken to be a Black and white 

 Warbler's nest (built in a small azalea bush, a foot from the 

 ground) proved non-productive, probably on account of my 

 approaching too closely to the nest. One pair of Indigo 

 Buntings raised a trio of youngsters; Cardinal ditto, The 



