INTRODUCTORY. 
II 7 
cessive years: from June 6 — 15 , 1880; 12-18, 1881 ; 24-27, 1882 ; on 
the latter occasion accompanied by Dr. A. K. Fisher, of Sing Sing, 
N. Y. Mr. R. F. Pearsall, of Brooklyn, also visited the same section 
of the region from May 30 to June 13, 1882, during this time con- 
fining his attention principally to the nidification of the birds, and has 
kindly permitted me the use of his notes. I have also had occasion 
to refer to notes taken by my brothers, Pierrepont C. and G. A. 
Bicknell, who at different times made trout-fishing and camping ex- 
cursions into these mountains, always carefully noting observations 
on the birds. 
On my first visit to the region head-quarters were made near 
Summit,* from whence exploration was conducted southward 
through the Big Indian Valley, over a distance of about twenty 
miles, — nearly to the southern terminus of the mountains ; towards 
the northeast, about ten miles; and to lesser distances in other direc- 
tions. On the subsequent visits, exploration was mainly confined to 
the region about the head of the Big Indian Valley and adjacent 
mountains, which my former trip had demonstrated to be an interest- 
ing section for that purpose. 
The country here is very sparingly cultivated, and tilled ground is 
seen only as a necessary accessory to the dwellings of the settlers 
which extend interruptedly along the valley, becoming increasingly 
separated and of more primitive construction towards the remoter 
portions. Still farther beyond, and above, indications of the former 
presence of lumbermen, in natural sequence to an abandoned saw- mill 
in the valley below, remain along the rough mountain road ; but up 
on the precipitous slopes, where the ancient forests of deciduous trees 
have repelled the devastating bark-peeler, Nature, too austere to re- 
*This point is on the line of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, about thirty miles west from the 
Hudson River ; the altitude in the immediate vicinity varies from 1,500-1,600 feet in the valleys to 
2,482 feet on the highest hill. 
The altitudes and distances given in this paper are from, or approximated from, Prof. A. Guyot’s 
“ Map of the Catskill Mountains,” 1880. 
