132
Lake Umbagog.
Leonard's Pond.
1897
June 8
(No 7)
  When I entered the forest of stubs this
morning I was surprised to find this place perfectly
silent and apparently deserted. What had become
of the host of Swallows, Grackles & Woodpeckers which
are nesting there? Literally not a bird of any
kind was in sight or heard. Half an hour
later they began calling, singing & flying about.
I was especially interested in a pair of Great
Crested Flycatchers. The [female] was building somewhere
behind me but I could not remove my eyes
from the Duck's nest long enough to follow her
flight. The [male] sitting on the top of a stub nearly
over me kept calling whit-whit-whit-whit-
whit in tones mellow & musical for this
harsh-voiced species. I suspect that this may
be the nearest approach to a song of which the
Great Crested Flycatcher is capable.
[margin]Stub forest
silent in
early morning[/margin]
[margin]A pair of
Crested
Flycatchers[/margin]
[margin]Song (?) of 
male.[/margin]
  The Bronzed Grackles have a small roost in
a dense thicket of second growth birches & poplars
on the island in Leonard's Pond. To this ten or
a dozen birds of both sexes fly by twos & threes
soon after sunset every evening. The ground under
the trees is covered with their droppings. Watrous
found a Water Thrush's nest [delete]with eggs[/delete] in a
small root bank directly beneath this roost. It
contained five eggs about a week ago but when
I visited it with him on the 6th the eggs were
all broken and the shells intermixed with the
lining of the nest which the pool of water beneath
was strewn with the Water Thrush's feathers. Could a
Grackle have committed this foul deed?
[margin]Nest of
Water Thrush[/margin]