l62 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 17-iNo. 11 
would be difficult to distinguish it, even 
at a short distance, from either the Least 
Flycatcher, or the trallii , but its habitat 
and notes are different, and its nesting 
modes more so. The habitats of both 
the other species of this genus above- 
mentioned, are easily discovered by their 
song notes, which in the early summer 
season are continually repeated, but so far 
as I am aware this! species is songless, and 
owing to the wild places that it frequents, 
and its habits of darting off into deep con- 
cealment on the approach of human kind, 
it would scarcely be known to exist were 
it not for its simple lamehf uttered when 
the environs of its nest is invaded. 
Williaiv L. Kells. 
A Few Notes which I have Noted. 
On reading Mr. Brotherton’s article in 
the September number of the Ornitii- 
ologist and Oologist on “ The Rose- 
breasted Grosbeak in Oakland County, 
Michigan,” I thought that my observations 
might throw some light upon the subject. 
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is one of 
those peculiar birds which does not appear 
in every locality throughout its entire 
geographical range, but visits only its old 
haunts and breeding grounds, where per- 
haps it was reared and has bred for years, 
and while it may be abundant in one 
locality, yet but a few miles from there it 
may be seldom if ever seen. Such is the 
case where I live at Plymouth, Michigan. 
Although we have inviting forests, swamps 
and ravines, yet I have never seen a Rose- 
breasted Grosbeak on an average of more 
than oncedn two years, and never found a 
nest in a radius of three miles around my 
place, bind I have kept the ground, well 
canvassed ; and yet only four miles east in 
the township of Levonia, they nest every 
year quite abundantly ; and while on a 
collecting trip in this same locality in 
company with my friends, Albert and 
Elmer Durfee, they led the way to what 
they called their “ Timbered Forty,” and 
there for the first time in my life I heard 
the Wilson’s Thrush, They were sending 
forth their ringing notes on every hand and 
we were not long in finding three nests. 
But I do not expect to live long enough to 
ever hear one of these birds or find one of 
their nests in Plymouth ; and I know where 
there is a little narrow strip of marsh 
grass bordering a small stream where 
there is a small colony of Short-billed 
Marsh Wrens breeding every year, and 
although my friend, Mr. W. A. Davidson 
of Detroit, tells me that they breed quite 
abundantly in the marshes along the De- 
troit river, yet this is the only place where 
I have found them nesting myself, and al- 
though there are hundreds of places which 
would seem more inviting, yet they cling 
to the place where they have been hatched 
and reared for years ; and so it is with 
many others of this class of birds. They 
ffiest only in certain localities, while the 
Rpbin, the Bluebird, the Meadow Lark, 
the.Song Sparrow and many other varie- 
ties are more evenly distributed, and are 
found ' -.breeding in every orchard and 
meadow and on every farm throughout 
their entire\range. The above notes I be- 
lieve to be qorrect, for many a pair of 
boots I have worn out and many a suit of 
clothes I have torn out wading through 
the deepest swamps, and quagmires, climb- 
ing steep hills and wandering through 
valleys and tearing my way through thick- 
tangled underbrush to make these observ- 
ations, and yet there is a great deal to be 
learned about bird-life that will never be 
known, for when a young bird leaves its 
nest it may never see another one like it 
until it builds one for itself, and then it 
uses the same material for its foundations, 
fashions it in the same form, and u«es the 
same kind of material for its lining that its 
ancestors have used for generations before. 
I think I hear some one say, “ That is in. 
162 
ORNITI 
would be difficult to distinguish it, even 
at a short distance, from either the Least 
Flycatcher, or the trallii , but its habitat 
and notes are different, and its nesting 
modes more so. The habitats of both 
the other species of this genus above- 
mentioned, are easily discovered by their 
song notes, which in the early summer 
season are continually repeated, but so far 
as I am aware this species is songless, and 
owing to the wild places that it frequents, 
and its habits of darting off into deep con- 
cealment on the approach of human kind, 
it would scarcely be known to exist were 
it not for its simple lament uttered when 
the environs of its nest is invaded. 
T>.& O Vol. 17, • Nov *1 y ' 
/6C 
