136 



THE OOLOGIST. 





on May 25th, in a large tract of vir- 

 gin forest, in the mountains, I shot 

 an adult female Goshawk that was 

 trying to drive a Grouse out of a 

 laurel bed. This bird showed all 

 signs of being a breeding bird and no 

 doubt had a nest in some of the big 

 hemlocks. 



We also have plenty of Canada 

 porcupines, varying hares, woodland 

 jumping mice and other of the more 

 northern mammals. 



This summer I have seen a Soli- 

 tary Sandpiper at different times 

 since the middle of May, but think it 

 is alone, as I have never been able to 

 see its mate. Last summer a pair 

 were about but I could find no nest 

 nor did I see any young. 



But with the conditions I have 

 named and the already long list of the 

 more northern breeders, the occasion- 

 al breeding of other northern birds in 

 this as well as other boreal regions of 

 Pennsylvania may be looked for. 

 Yours sincerely, 



R. B. SIMPSON, 

 Warren, 



Warren Co., 



Pa. 



Ruby-throat Hummer. 



Dear Mr. Short: — 



In the July issue of the Oologist I 

 read with interest Mr. Smithwick's ar- 

 ticle on the Ruby-throat (Trochilus 

 colubris). In closing he speaks of 

 never having found a nest in a yard. 



Although I have only had the for- 

 tune to examine two nests, both of 

 these were placed in shade trees. 



The first one of these was placed 

 on a cone of a larch tree. It was 

 about 8 feet from the trunk, near the 

 end of one of the long streamers, and 

 25 feet up. This nest was within ten 

 feet of the house. 



The second nest was built in a 

 large shade tree, about 100 feet from 



the residence. This pair of birds en- 

 tered the green-house on the estate in 

 order to procure the down off a cer- 

 tain species of fern for building pur- 

 poses. I did not examine this nest in 

 situ, but the record is authentic. 



I do not doubt that the reason I 

 have not found more nests is because 

 I have not looked in the proper lo- 

 cations, and that Mr. Smithwick is 

 right in saying they generally nest in 

 the forest trees. 



Yours very truly, 



D. E. HARROWER. 



American Bittern. 



We have excellent localities near 

 Buffalo where a good patient observer 

 can learn a great deal about the hab- 

 its of the American Bittern. They 

 arrive here in the latter part of April. 

 Before selecting a nesting site, the 

 male is very noisy, especially before 

 dark sets in up to midnight. The 

 queer call of the male during the mat- 

 ing season almost equals that of a 

 bull, something like "Up-rump," and 

 can be heard for at least a half mile, 

 and to accomplish this the male 

 stands on both of his feet and places 

 the bill in the water, and by jerks 

 produces the noise. After the selec- 

 tion of a suitable spot for the nest, 

 both birds construct the same, in 

 some instances on level ground out- 

 side, but near the swamp. Others 

 place their nest on a platform con- 

 structed of dry and coarse water 

 plants, as tules, sedges, etc., from 12 

 to 18 inches above the water in the 

 swamp. When completed, the female 

 starts on the duties of life, laying 

 from 4 to 6 eggs, from light brown 

 greenish to a dark shade of brown. 

 They also vary greatly in size. When 

 the nest is placed among the tules 

 and sedges of a swamp, the male in 

 visiting the female alights from 15 to 



