THE OOLOGIST. 



137 



took the nest and eggs and have them 

 added to my cabinet. 



It being nearly sundown we made 

 for home, first driving to Mr. Bryant's 

 home to let him out. He insisted on 

 me stopping while he showed me his 

 den as he called it. 



Here it is that he has his work 

 shop and storage room for his 

 boxes of mounted birds, mammals, etc. 

 He has a room about 10 x 12 feet 

 stacked full. He showed me one 

 small box of about forty or fifty Hum- 

 mers that he had mounted, all taken 

 on one trip to Guatemala. They were 

 gems of their kind. Mr. Bryant will 

 leave for Alaska on May 1st. 



H. F. Di PREY. 



This article written before Mr. Bry- 

 ant's untimely death is particularly 

 interesting now. It is now thought 

 that the city of Santa Rosa will secure 

 his collections which include many 

 type sets of Coast Is. species.— Ed. 



In North Carolina and Virginia. 



Wilsonia mitrata. 



An abundant summer residant and 

 breeder in Bertie county, North Caro- 

 lina, arriving in the first ten days in 

 April, and becoming more numerous 

 than in any other section that has been 

 visited by me. The males arrive a few 

 days in advance of their mates, and 

 are in full song by the time they reach 

 us. In Lenoir county they become of 

 more casual occurence, being tolerably 

 numerous on some places and rather 

 rare in others; further to the westward 

 they do not appear at all. Their total 

 absence is noticed in some parts of the 

 East; this absence must be permanent 

 as 1 failed to note them in Beaufort 

 county, North Carolina, in the month 

 of May, 1900, and among my friends 

 there were none who had seen them 

 there. Whether or not this is the case 

 every season yet remains to be proved. 

 They appear in Norfolk county. Vir- 



ginia, and, while not so numerous as 

 in Bertie county, North Carolina, are 

 fairly common; but they are of less 

 even distiibution, very likely bein^ 

 influenced by the density of the popu- 

 lation. A few have been noticed by 

 me within the city limits (Norfolk) 

 during the fall migrations; it is strange, 

 however, to note that all were females. 

 By some writers (the correctness of 

 whose observations I do not doubt) the 

 song of this bird has been described as 

 consisting of three variations; notwith- 

 standing this fact, two variations are 

 all that I have been able to discover. 

 I have spent two seasons with them, 

 giving more time to their habits in 

 my observations than have I to those 

 of any other species; and fortunately 

 having the opportunity of examining 

 more than one hundred and twenty-five 

 nests, within the short period of two 

 years, with contents in all stages, from 

 fresh eggs to nearly fledged young. 

 The two songs are very distinct and 

 different from each other, but when 

 once heard are easily distinguished 

 from those of any of the the other birds. 

 In its favorite haunts, the deep shady 

 woods and swamps, it revels amid the 

 under-brush and reeds, filling the 

 woods with its melody as it sounds and 

 resounds from throat to throat. Their 

 songs carry away the fortunate orni- 

 thologist who may be in their midst 

 as would the appearing of a vision, as 

 his heart is filled with raptures and his 

 thoughts carried far above until some 

 sudden rustle causes him to awaken, 

 and leaves him wondering at what he 

 has just heard. Perhaps it was the 

 clumsy efforts of a toad as it resumes 

 its weary journey, or the sudden 

 screech of a hawk as it cleaves the air 

 with nimble wings, tireless and strong, 

 that carries it through air with such 

 wonderful rapidity again to be lost in 

 space;, or perhaps it was the sudden 

 and shrill notes of a Wood Thrush 

 coming from some near by tree, or the 



