THE OOLOGIST. 9H&) 



41 



throat, speaks of finding nests in 

 conifeous trees. I have never found 

 any in other trees than Oaks, Dog- 

 woods and Poplars, Dogwoods being 

 preferred. It seems — with a great 

 many birds, at least — a matter of lo- 

 cality. Take the Crow (c. Americana) 

 for instance. Farther north Oak- 

 woods are always sought as a breed- 

 ing ground, but here in the south, 

 pines are almost always preferred, no 

 doubt because they afford 'better con- 

 cealment than the naked deciduous 

 woods do in March and April, the 

 breeding time for the Crow. 



May 7, went down the creek. In a 

 willow stub in the creek found a chick- 

 adee's nest containing young. Further 

 down found another chickadee's nest 

 in a stump near the bank. It contain- 

 ed six fresh eggs. Nothing unusual 

 in that, but a blue-bird had its nest in 

 the same stub, the entrance hole of 

 which was not more than three inches 

 from that of the chickadee. Such 

 harmonious dwelling is not quite com- 

 mon. 



More than one bird-lover regretted 

 the suspension of "American Ornithol- 

 ogy." Even more would we regret the 

 suspension of "Oologist," but we are 

 not much afraid. The Oologist has 

 been with us too long — so long that 

 it has become indispensable, the "nes- 

 essary magazine" for the bird-man. 

 JACOB BOSTIAN. 



Statesville, N. C. ' 



Allegheny, Pa. 



In the January Oologist the editor 

 requests that careful observers give 

 a report of the conditions of bird 1 life 

 in their localities. 



In my locality, Riverview Park, Al- 

 legheny, Pa., there was a marked in- 

 crease in numbers of the Baltimore 

 Orioles (Icterus galbula) ; the Downy 

 and Hairy Woodpeckers (Dryobates 



pubescens medianus et villosus); and 

 a slight increase in most other spe- 

 cies, notably the Sparrows, during the 

 season of 1906. On the other hand 

 there was a decrease in the numbers 

 of the Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla 

 mustelina); and the different mem- 

 bers of the Flycatcher family; and 

 there is a general absence of winter 

 visitants. 



The migration of last fall was par- 

 ticularly notable because of the great 

 numbers of White-throated Sparows 

 (Zonotrichia albicollis). 



The one thing which tends to limit 

 the number of birds hereabouts is the 

 great number of nests that are wan- 

 tonly destroyed by small boys, but, 

 happily, this menace is being stamped 

 out. 



Let us hear what other observers 

 have to say. 



WM. G. PITCAIRX. 



Nesting of the Carolina Chickadee in 

 Philadelphia County, Pa. 



By RICHARD F. MILLER. 



The Carolina Chickadee (Parus car- 

 olinensis) is a very rare breeder in 

 Philadelphia county, but one nest hav- 

 ing come undier my observation and 

 this was found two years before I kept 

 a note book. I cannot give the ap- 

 proximate date. As nearly as I can 

 remember this nest was found in the 

 second week of May, 1S95. It was 

 found at Holmesburg, along the Pen- 

 nypacker Creek, and was an original 

 cavity excavated in the decayed, bark- 

 less stub of a soft willow; it was 

 about eight feet from the ground, and 

 contained 7 eggs, laid in two layers. 

 Not collecting eggs at that time, they 

 were not taken, but somebody else 

 got them, for I remember visiting the 

 locality about a week later and find- 

 ing the nest and eggs gone. The 

 bird, presumably, the female, was 

 flushed from the nest, when we first 



