50 
ORNITHOLOGIST. 
took on the eighth of June, 1874, were 
fresh. This nest was about two miles from 
the place where I found those in 1874, and 
I think it is a question if their breeding 
here is to be regarded as merely accidental. 
They might nest in some numbers through¬ 
out New England without being discov¬ 
ered, provided they always choose such se¬ 
cluded homes as they do here. The nest 
is placed near the ground, is well concealed, 
and the bird when disturbed slips away 
through the underbrush so cjuickly that 
there is very small chance for seeing her. 
In neither instance have I seen or heard 
anything of the males, though in June, 1873, 
I several times heard one singing in the vi¬ 
cinity of where I found the nests the fol¬ 
lowing year.— C. M. Jones, Eastford, Conn 
1 Vol. 6-No. 7. :■ 
- . 
about two weeks again I could neither see ‘ 
or hear anything of the Woodpecker 1 
May 16th, 1878, my brother and I, while I 
collecting in a swamp about five miles west I 
of this city, observed a female of, this spe-1 
cies carrying food to her young. The nest 1 
was in a black ash, about forty feet from ■ 
the ground- The bird made regular trips 
with food every fiv'e minutes. 'I’his was < 
the same day and place where I took a set 
of four 
IlROAD-wiNGEi) Hawk’s Eggs, the on¬ 
ly set I have been fortunate enough to find. 
'I'his species I consider the rarest of all the 
family Ealconidae that breed in this sec¬ 
tion of the country.— T J Wilson, Af. D. 
Notes from Moosehead Lake, Me.* 
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker 
NESTING AT AUBURN, N. Y. 
By reference to the Atibnrn Daily Ad¬ 
vertiser for September 6th, 1877, Mr. S. E. 
Rathbun will find recorded tlie first authen¬ 
ticated instance of the nesting of Sphyra- 
pici/s 7 'arins in this vicinity. 'I'he circum¬ 
stance of the “find” is as follows: June 
30th, 1876, while collecting on Howland’s 
Island, in Seneca River, (a locality which, 
were it thoioughly explored, would 1 doubt 
not prove to be the nesting place of many 
stragglers ot what are usually termed mi¬ 
gratory birds, whose breeding places are 
commonly j)ut by naturalists in the misty 
regions known by the names .Alaska, Lab¬ 
rador, Saskatchewan, N'c.,) I heard the ])e 
culiar hawk-like cry of a Yellow bellied 
Woodpecker, and on looking around in a 
short time discovered a male bird on a 
beech stub near a freshly excavated hole. 
I climbed up to it. While doing so the 
bird darted around me, giving vent to its 
anger and dislike of my proceedings by 
loud cries. When 1 reached the hole I 
found it was but about three or four inches 
in depth. .And for some reason, probably 
on account of my molestation, it was never 
completed When 1 visited the place in 
The following notes on some of the birds 
about Moosehead Lake, Me, were made 
during a fishing trij) between the i ith and 
2istof June of the present year, and are 
necessarily brief, as but little time could be 
devoted to ornithology. 
Thrushes. — The Olive b.acked was the 
most abundant of the Thrushes—its melo¬ 
dious song being heard everywhere in the 
woods bordering the lake. 
The W’ater Thrush Siurus navins^ was 
([uite common, and we often listened to 
its peculiar song as it eminated from the 
shy denizen of some swampy thicket. 
Ei.vcatchers. —Several specimens of the 
Olive-sided Elycatcher {Contopus borealis 
were noted and all had the habit of either 
perching on the tops of tall dead pine or 
spruce trees or choosing such trees as had 
a few dead branches at the top, from which 
they would dart at frequent intervals after 
their insect prey, returning again to the 
branch and giving forth the peculiar note 
of this interesting species. 
SwiETS—But few specimens of the 
Chimney Swift were seen and we were told 
by our guide, Cajit. Samuel Cole, who is 
ipiite familiar with the birds of this region, 
that a pair had a nest in the camp cabin at 
the mouth of Little .Moose Brook last year. 
i 
