THE OOLOGIST 



145 



rock slightly protruding. Two of the 

 eggs bear peculiar marks, as though 

 the surface had at one or more points 

 been scratched with a coarse file. I 

 believe these marks were caused by 

 the bird scraping the eggs against the 

 rock. 



The name "Sunken Lake" is, 

 physically speaking, somewhat of a 

 misnomer, as the whole region con- 

 cerned is really upland, and the clear- 

 ing above mentioned was fully 300 

 yards from anything suggesting a wet 

 bog or swamp, which is the sort of 

 habitat, I have always observed, this 

 species seems to favor. 



I have no theory to advance as to 

 what may have occurred to induce the 

 bird to desert her nest. The eggs 

 were slightly incubated, which sug- 

 gests that the set was complete. 



From what Mr. Long told me, I can- 

 not believe his single brief intrusion 

 on her privacy would account for her 

 abandoning the eggs, especially since 

 the period of incubation had begun. 



R. W Tufts, 

 Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 



Some Nesting Birds of the Palisades 

 Interstate Park. 



Paper No. 2 

 By P. M. Silloway. 

 8. Chipping Sparrow. The Chipping 

 Sparrow inhabits the general Park do- 

 main, frequenting situations that par- 

 take of human and domestic in- 

 fluences, the camp zones fringing the 

 lakes and ponds, the old farms, gar- 

 dens, and bushy areas near dwellings 

 and buildings. In all these situations 

 it nests in harmony with its well 

 known characteristics of confidence 

 and disregard of human activities. On 

 June 6 a nest was found in a small 

 pine, about four feet from the ground, 

 on horizontal branches against the 

 main stem, in a park-like portion of 

 the Bear Mountain Inn grounds. This 



nest contained young recently hatched. 

 Another nest on June 6 was in a small 

 cedar tree, in the margin of a hard- 

 wood sapling thicket; the nest was 

 made against the central stem of the 

 cedar, or horizontal twigs, about four 

 feet from the ground. This nest con- 

 tained young beginning to feather out. 



9. Brown Thrasher. On June 6 a 

 nest of Brown Thrasher was examined 

 in a sapling cluster beside the road 

 through the boat-landing grounds, near 

 the Inn. The site was a stout fork 

 of sapling, with oblique fallen branches 

 as additional foundation, about six 

 feet from the ground, and within easy 

 view from the road. This nest con- 

 tained four eggs on June 6. Further 

 observations showed that the site was 

 a dead chestnut sapling surrounded 

 by chestnut sprouts, on a foundation 

 of bent and fallen branches mated to- 

 gether, and with a cluster of living 

 chestnut leaves about the nest as a 

 partial shelter. The nest location was 

 closely backed up by thick scrub 

 growth under tall trees. The plan of 

 structure was of the regulation pat- 

 tern, a bulky mass of coarse twigs, 

 with fibrous ends of hemlock and root- 

 lets, lined with coarse dark rootlets. 

 The nest mass measured more than 

 a foot in diameter, owing to the 

 length of twigs used in the outer part 

 of the walls. 



10. Catbird. The Catbird was every- 

 where noticeable during the song 

 season, frequenting the bushy mar- 

 gins of the lakes and ponds, the shrub- 

 bery of the hillside bases, old gardens, 

 and berry-bearing patches of bushy 

 openings. On June 7 I examined a 

 nest of Catbird, in a tangle beside the 

 road through the boat-landing grounds. 

 It was made on bent stems of large 

 blackberry, about three feet from the 

 ground. The materials were coarse 

 twigs, weed-stems and grass-stems, 

 with coarse black rootlets for lining, 



