135 



THE OOLOGIST 



Breeding Birds of the Pocono 

 Mountains 



During the spring of 1917 it was 

 my good fortune to spend three 

 weeks in the Pocono Mountains of 

 northeastern Pennsylvania in company 

 with R. C. Harlow, Richard F. Miller 

 and T. D. Burleigh. The object of 

 the trip was to collect as much infor- 

 mation and data as possible on the 

 breeding of some of the rarer birds 

 of the state. 



Arriving on the 22nd of May we 

 found that the majority of the birds 

 had not begun building. In fact, the 

 wave of migratory warblers had not 

 yet passed north. The long continued 

 cold weather and heavy rains had not 

 only held back migration and nesting 

 but had forced the birds to abandon 

 the tree-tops and seek food on the 

 ground. Chestnut-sided, Wilson's, 

 Black-throated Green, Magnolia, and 

 even Blackburnian Warblers were all 

 seen feeding on the ground along 

 roads or creeks. This unusual con- 

 dition prevailed until about the last 

 of May when nearly all the migrants 

 had gone and summer residents start- 

 ed to take up their household duties. 



On the 2nd of June Harlow came 

 in with a set of five Northern Water- 

 Thrush. The next day the four of 

 us set out to visit the high tangled 

 swamps where these birds nest. We 

 spent the entire day wading knee- 

 deep in water and muck, falling over 

 rotten logs, and cursing the almost 

 impenetrable 'rhododendron. Two 

 nests were found. The first one con- 

 tained a set of three eggs and was 

 within six inches of the ground in an 

 overturned root. The second nest con- 

 tained four eggs and was about one foot 

 above the water; also in an over- 

 turned root. The nests were built 

 of dead leaves and moss, and lined 

 with rootlets of fine tendrils. 



For the next few days not many 



nests were found with full sets, out- 

 side of those of the more common 

 species, except four of the Ruby- 

 throated Hummingbird. 



On the ninth we visited a new nest 

 of the winter wren which had un- 

 fortunately been destroyed. On the 

 way home a nest of the Black and 

 White Warbler was found cortaining 

 five eggs. It was well back in the base 

 of an old dead stump, but easily 

 visible after it had once been located. 

 Another nest of this species which 

 we found later was destroyed before 

 a full set had been laid. 



Two days later we set out in the 

 rain for a nest of the Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker which had been located 

 previously. After floundering through 

 a swamp of mud, water, rhododen- 

 dron, and fallen trees we reached a 

 big dead sugar maple where the 

 birds had their home fifty feet up. 

 Rap as we would no bird appeared. 

 It was not until Burleigh was within 

 ten feet of the hole that the female 

 left. The reward was a fresh set of 

 four eggs. Both birds returned to 

 the nest but as soon as they dis- 

 covered their loss they disappeared. 



On the 12th and 13th there was a 

 grand round-up of all the known 

 nests of the Black-throated Blue War- 

 bler. Altogether about ten nests were 

 found. Nearly all of them contained 

 sets of four although one or two held 

 three and several days later Harlow 

 found one with five. Most of the nests 

 were in rhododendron and usually 

 about a foot from the ground. The 

 highest one found was a little over two 

 feet up in the crotch of a rhododen- 

 dron. One of the nests was in a 

 small hemlock growing among the 

 rhododendron while another was on 

 the horizontal limb of a dead hemlock 

 lying on the ground. 



One nest of the Black-throated 

 Green Warbler was found about forty 



