so 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[V^ol. 6-No. 10. 
ward, for 1 did not observe one to fly in 
another direction. I consider this bird 
rare in the neighborhood of Hartford, for 
although I have been a pretty close ob¬ 
server for five or six years I never saw 
more than three or four individuals previous 
to these just mentioned. What is the ex¬ 
perience of others with this Woodpecker ? 
Is it not veiy locally distributed throughout 
Connecticut ? • 
I remember seeing an adult among some 
cedars on the summit of Talcott mountain, 
nine miles west of here, in October, 1876. 
Stragglers were on the meadows November 
3d .—Harry T. Ga/es, Hartford, Conn. 
[.4 male was shot at New Britain, eighteen 
niiles south of Hartford, about the time of 
the above flight. The only specimen we 
have seen in this State was in Tolland, early 
in the fall of 1879.—Ed.] 
Robins and Black Snakes. 
While I was passing by the head of the ! 
mill-pond where the water was skirted by j 
several rods’ width of alders and briers, 
with an occasional maple or white-wood, 
one of the latter stood tall and straight near 
where I was. There was several inches in 
s 
depth of water at its base, and its trunk 
went up straight and smooth for some 
twenty feet without a branch, there one 
arm extended out to the right and the trunk 
of the tree continued up naked and straight j 
some ten or fifteen feet more, then the 
branches grew thickly, covered with foliage; | 
some, not its own, came from a grape vine I 
that twined among the upper branches, and ' 
the body of the vine looked like a large j 
rope hanging from the top of the tree j 
down among the alders below and within a ’ 
foot or two of the trunk. In the top of 
this tree were a dozen or more robins, all 
scolding in chorus at the top of their voices; 
some hovering over the tree, some dashing 
down among the foliage and rising again 
only to join the chorus with renewed ener¬ 
gy. I soon discovered that there was a 
robin’s nest near the top of the tree and 
some dark object—not the mother bird— 
had possession. I heard above the din the 
scream of distress from a young bird, 
and gathering a handful of small stones I 
began a bombardment of the tree top. Af¬ 
ter one or two failures a stone, well directed 
and well impelled, struck the spot and im¬ 
mediately something began to move. A 
large black snake uncoiling itself dropped, 
striking the branch mentioned some ten 
feet or more below, and thence wriggling in 
the air down among the alders till I heard 
it splash in the water. I was very much 
surprised, and it is a wonder still to me 
how that snake could climb such a tree or 
vine, the only means of access to the nest. 
It is also a surprise to me how the snake 
discovered the nest, which was at least 
thirty-five feet above the water, with an in¬ 
tervening canopy of alders and thick foli¬ 
age surrounding the nest. The scene was 
one I shall not soon forget, though I have 
often observed on other occasions that this 
snake is a mortal enemy of young birds 
and deserves extermination from their 
friends. He seldom escapes a shot when 
he crosses my path.— f. N. Clark. 
Publications. 
RECENT AND OTHERWISE. 
J. J. .Audubon. —In the Turf, Field and 
Farm for November the i8th, 1881, will be 
found an exceedingly interesting article 
over the initials of M. r. a. The article is 
well written and contains about as many 
facts concerning this great man’s simple 
life as can w-ell be crowded into two col* 
umnsand a half. Cut it out and preserve 
it for future reference. 
The Germantown Telegraph is a weekly 
family paper published at Germantown, 
I’a. It contains much original matter for 
the family, the sportsman, the farmer, and 
gardener. In politics it is independent, and 
fearless. Its Philadelphia letter alone is 
well worth the price of subscription. If 
there is a bettei family paper published we 
have not seen it. $2.00 per annum 
