BIRDS OF NEW YORK 15 



if any one approaches, or' if a dog runs toward them, they immediately 

 rise and follow each other in succession to the shelter of the thickets. 

 These shelter or refuge habitats are of particular importance in the case 

 of game birds, as all sportsmen know, for it is in the best cover that they 

 search for the Grouse, Pheasant and Bobwhite. The various nesting 

 habitats are enumerated in connection with the bird communities which 

 inhabit them. 



NESTING SITES OF NEW YORK BIRDS 

 For ecological purposes it is necessary to determine the nesting habitat 

 and exact nesting site of birds in order to classify them properly. In 

 recording the nesting site, we might arrange our birds according to the 

 strata or layers or stories which they occupy, as follows: 



Subterranean stratum. In this are included the Kingfisher, Bank 

 swallow. Rough-winged swallow and occasionally the English sparrow 

 when usurping the nesting holes of Bank swallows. 



Ground stratum. Here are found all the birds which place their 

 nests directly upon the ground, such as the Loon, Herring gull (on rocks). 

 Mallard, Black duck. Blue-winged teal. Woodcock, Bertramian sandpiper, 

 Killdeer, Piping plover (sand or pebbles), Bobwhite, Ruffed grouse. 

 Pheasant, Mourning dove (occasionally). Duck hawk (on rocky ledges), 

 Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Prairie horned lark, Bobolink, Cowbird (in 

 Song sparrow's nest, etc.), Meadowlark, Vesper sparrow, Savannah sparrow, 

 Grasshopper sparrow. Song sparrow (usually). Field sparrow (usually), 

 Junco, Towhee (usually), Black and white warbler, Canada warbler. Worm- 

 eating warbler, Nashville warbler. Blue-winged warbler (occasionally), 

 Ovenbird, Kentucky warbler, Brown thrasher (frequently), Wilson thrush, 

 and Hermit thrush. Here also might be included those species which nest 

 on the oozy ground or grass or moss of marshes, such as the Pied-billed 

 grebe, Black tern, American bittern. King rail, Sora rail, Virginia rail, 

 Florida gallinule. Coot, Wilson snipe. Marsh hawk and Short-eared owl. 

 Also those species whose nests are usually placed in mossy banks or moss- 



