32 



THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY 



merganser) , was quite common. I saw 

 the females almost every day. The little 

 Sand piper (spotted) was quite common, 

 making a very neat nest along the shore. 

 I also found one nest of the Bittern 

 (Botaurus minor), on high ground in a 

 little grove of the young aspen. 



My most interesting item in nidiiication 

 of land birds coming to notice was the 

 nest of the Nashville Warbler {Helmin- 

 thopilla ruficapiUa). "Scrambling 



along The edge of a marsh, where the 

 thickly strewn windfalls of cedar make 

 my way exceedingly difficult, as I stumble 

 and nearly fall, striking the muzzle of my 

 gun on the fallen timber; a Nashville 

 Warbler flutters over a pile of rubbish 

 with that peculiar tremor of the wings 

 which every oologist well understands. 

 Knowing that this is a ground builder, 

 I make diligent search for the nest 

 throughout many square feet around but 

 all in vain. Mean while the bird lingers 

 in the bushes in the immediate vicinity, 

 uttering the soft whistling tsip, quite 

 peculiar to itself." The best way to find 

 anest thus eluding the first effort, is to 

 hide away in the vicinity, and await the 

 return of the bird ; after two such efforts 

 I found the nest under the dry grasses of 

 the year previous, trailing thickly along 

 the ground, at the root of a bush. 1* 

 was "a frail shallow little affair, of fine 

 dried grasses, lined with bright red stems 

 of pedicels of moss-copsules, and a black 

 vegetable production, looking as if pluck- 

 ed from a man's beard — perhaps old 

 moss-pedicels black eued from the weather; 

 evidently no animal product, from the 

 manner in which it burns when held in a 

 flame. This slight structure is tucked 

 away in a thick bunch of hypnumjniosses, 

 so that I took up the moss as a part of 

 the nest. The five eggs, well on in in- 

 cubation, about .62 x .50,are clear white, 

 sparsely specked and spotted all over with 



light red and reddish-brown, the mark- 

 ings thickening into blotches at thelarge 

 end. (The passages in quotation are 

 from "Our Birds in their Haunts"). 



This species was very common in the 

 locality, and I became quite familiar with 

 its song; and a bird's song, is to me, 

 one of the most charming items in the 

 study of ornithology. Fortunately this 

 one is easily reported. It is a composition; 

 for the first part is as nearly as possible 

 like that of the Black-and-white Creeping 

 Warbler, and the latter part is like that 

 of the Chipping Sparrow. 



Passing to the main-land in the north, 

 to a Hudson's Bay trading post, 

 called La Cloch, and thence up into the 

 La Clouch Mountains, I found the bird- 

 life morevaried. Here as elsewhere about 

 the bay, I was surprised to find the Wood 

 Thrush common. In the East, it is rare 

 already in southern Maine. Here was 

 also the Olive-backed Thrush. The 

 Brown Thrush I found common through- 

 out this region. I had expected to hear 

 the divine song of the Hermit Thrush in 

 this high latitude — almost up to Lake 

 Superior, but in this I was disappointed. 



In the La Cloche Mountains, I found 

 the Warblers abundant. The Black- 

 throated Blue Warbler, the Yellow-rump 

 or Myrtle Bird, the Yellow-backed Blue, 

 the Black-and-yellow D. macuiata—a,rxd 

 the Chestnut sided. Here I found the 

 nest of the Black-throated Green Warbler, 

 June 17th, containing four young partly 

 fledged. It was in a small hemlock tree 

 some twenty feet from the ground, a few 

 feet from the trunk, and where the limb 

 devided into several small boughs. The 

 foundation was of fine dry twigs of 

 hemlock and shreds of bark of the white 

 birch, then bits of weeds and fine grass, 

 dried rootlets inter mixed with usnea. — a 

 common article inthislocality-finegrass, 

 some feathers and a little horse-hair, 



In my next article, I shall describe my 

 enteresting experience with the water 

 birds, on the Western Island of this same 

 Bav. J. H. Langille. 



