THE OOLOGIST, 



123 



clearings. A nest of the Chestnut-sid- 

 ed Warbler, (Dendroica Pennsylvania), 

 containing 3 fresh eggs, was found on 

 July 16. The nest was three feet up 

 in a low shrub. The clutch must have 

 been a second one, judging by the 

 late date. Black-throated Green War- 

 blers, (Dendroica virens), and the 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler, (Den- 

 droica coerulescens), were rather rare 

 but were hoth observed on July 8, and 

 at various intervals 1 thereafter. A sol- 

 itary male Blackburnian Warbler, 

 (Dendroica bladkburniae) , was observ- 

 ed on July 8. The Yellow Warbler, 

 (Dendroica aestiva), was only noted 

 on one occasion, July 18. The Amer- 

 ican Redstart, (Setophaga ruticilla), 

 the Northern Yellow-throat, (Geothly- 

 pis trichas brachydactyla), and the 

 Oven-bird, (Seiurus auroeapilla) were 

 common here as elsewhere. A single 

 specimen of the Nashville Warbler, 

 (Helminthophila rubricapilla) was ob- 

 served along the lumber road leading 

 to the lake on July 13. The 'Pea-body' 

 song of the White-throated Sparrow, 

 (Zonotrichia albicollis), aroused us 

 every morning before the sun arose, 

 while the glorious refrain of the Soli- 

 tary Hermit Thrush, (Hylociohla gut- 

 tata pallasii), floated over the lake 

 until far into the night. A few other 

 birds may be mentioned: 



A family of Slate-colored Juncoes, 

 (Junco hyemalis), was noted on July 

 15. A few Red-breasted Nuthatches, 

 (Sitta canadensis), were observed 

 around our tent during the last week 

 of our stay. A single Red-headed 

 Woodpecker. Melaerpes erythro- 

 cephalus), was observed below the 

 lake on the first day of our stay. 



The American Goshawk, (Accipiter 

 artricapillus), was the commonest of 

 the four hawks occurring about the 

 lake. Forty-three additional birds 

 were observed during our stay. The 

 total list, ennumerating sixty-three 

 species, is reasonably large for any lo- 



cality, considering the season of the 

 year and the short time of our ob- 

 servance. 



HARRY WHITE. 



CHAS. P. ALEXANDER. 



The English Starling. 



(Sturnus Vulgarus.) 

 The English Starling (Sturnus Vul- 

 garus), which was introduced into 

 this country in 1890 is, in this' local- 

 ity, and let us hope in many others, a. 

 most beautiful bird. 



In the first place it consumes a 

 great many insects, and in the second 

 place it is rapidly driving out the de- 

 structive English Sparrow (Passer do- 

 mesticus). 



About three years ago I noticed the 

 first two pairs of Stagings I had ever 

 seen, around one of the numerous bird 

 boxes on this 1 place. Of course the 

 Sparrows objected greatly but, to my 

 great delight, the Starlings were most 

 always victorious. In this box they 

 reared their first broods. They stay- 

 ed there all winter and, in the follow- 

 ing spring, there were several more 

 pairs around. These also bred in nu- 

 merous boxes, driving the Sparrows 

 out in all directions 1 , and now there 

 are very few Sparrow survivors, and 

 what few Sparrows there are left are 

 vanishing slowly but surely. Would it 

 not be a good act to distribute some 

 of these birds among the states in 

 which 'the Sparrows are preying upon 

 the Swallow's young, as mentioned in 

 the June "Oologist?" 



There is a marked difference in the 

 increase of the song birds about the 

 dwellings since the Sparrows have 

 been driven out. On this place of 35 

 acres, there were about 10 Onests of 

 various kinds of song birds. This 

 makes an average of about three 

 nests per acre. 



Let us now turn to the nidifiea- 

 tion of the Starling. 



About the last week in April they 



