THE OOLOGIST 



13 



same large hornet guarded the birds' 

 threshold in a very efficient manner. 

 Up to the present, the above data 

 are all that I possess in regard to our 

 eastern bird building in the proximity 

 of a wasp's nest. They are interest- 

 ing cases, however, and ones which 

 have stimulated my interest in the 

 possibility of this being a habit much 

 more general than we suppose. 



Paul C. Howes. 



Some Nesting Birds of the Palisades 



Interstate Park 



Paper No. 1 



By P. M. Silloway. 



The following notes are presented 

 through the courtesy of the N. Y. 

 State College of Forestry, at Syra- 

 cuse University. During the season 

 of 1918, from May 24 to August 8, the 

 writer had the pleasure of making ob- 

 servations concerning the bird-life in 

 the Palisades Interstate Park, situat- 

 ed in the southeastern part of New 

 York and the northeastern part of 

 New Jersey. My work was under the 

 direction of Dr. Chas. C. Adams, of 

 the department of Forest Zoology of 

 the College and with the co-operation 

 of the Commissioners of the park rep- 

 resented by Mr. Edward F. Brown, the 

 secretary of the Commission. These 

 notes relate especially to the Bear 

 Mountain and Harriman region of the 

 park, the largest of four or five sepa- 

 rated areas making up the entire 

 park property, which comprises al- 

 together more than thirty thousand 

 acres of forested woodland. 



The park is situated on the west 

 side of the Hudson river, and extends 

 irregularly from this river to the 

 Ramapo Hills. The West. Shore rail- 

 road entrance to the region is Iona 

 Island, about forty miles above New 

 York City. Between Iona Island and 

 the base of Bear Mountain there is an 

 extensive march of cat-tails, this 



marsh bounding the Bear Mountain 

 Inn premises on the southeast. The 

 marsh opens into the river southeast 

 of the Inn, and the river bounds the 

 Inn premises on the east. Bear 

 Mountain is the principal feature of 

 this part of the park, though it is 

 merely one of a group constituting 

 the Highlands of the Hudson River. 

 This mountain rises to an altitude of 

 1300 fet above the Hudson tide-level. 



The park owes its existence to the 

 fact that, it is mountainous forest 

 though the valleys as well are dense- 

 ly wooded. We can briefly define the 

 Highlands as a forested plateau vary- 

 ing in height from one thousand to 

 fourteen hundred feet, the ridge-like 

 mountains being separated by long ir- 

 regular troughs, all covered by a uni- 

 form forest of hardwood type. Prom- 

 inent trees are the chestnut, chestnut- 

 oak, maples, red, black and white 

 oaks, various hickories, walnut, but- 

 ternut, tulip tree, birches, ash, bass- 

 wood, locusts, aspens, beech, and hem- 

 lock. The shrubs and saplings con- 

 sist of sumach, fire cherry, witch hazel, 

 dogwood, sassafras, laurel, sweet 

 fern, huckleberry, purple flowering 

 raspberry, blackberry, aspens and 

 birches, with sprouts and saplings of 

 all the native trees. With this brief 

 introduction we proceed with the ob- 

 servations concerning the nesting 

 birds of the region, taking them in 

 chronological order. 



1. Oven-bird. On May 27th I heard 

 a male Oven-bird singing on the basal 

 hillside of Bear Mountain, just above 

 the Inn premises. As he seemed to 

 be permanently attached to the local- 

 ity, I made search up the short slope, 

 which was comparatively free of un- 

 dergrowth, and in a short time I 

 found the nest. It was late in the af- 

 ternoon, and the female was not at 

 home. The nest was among dead 

 leaves around a fallen branch. It was 



