X/a-o jijg' 
On the south side of Ball's Hill s female Grosbeak 
w^s 8.t work on her nest which she had only just oeg;un, It was 
in a very unusual situation about 30 feet above the ground, 
near the extremity of a long, horizontal branch of a white 
nine in the middle of a dense cluster of green needles. The 
bird was collecting long, slender dead twigs. These she 
broke off the ends of the branches, flying upward, seizing 
them in her bill, then dropping backward® and utilizing her 
weight precisely as the TrogonsQ ido when 
breaking off berries in Trinidad. She appeared to prefer 
the twigs of the high blueberry, Hot once did she get any 
material from the ground. The male did not offer her any 
assistance, but he sang gloriously in an oak near the pine 
all the time she was at work. 
For my walk this evening I chose the oak-clad ridges 
of the Blakeman woods.^Oven-birds and Scarlet Tanagers were 
singing on the high ground, ’.Vi Ison' s Thrushes, Maryland Yellow- 
throats and a Grosbeak in the swamps below. In the distance 
towards Dakin's Hill I heard a Quail whistling. The toads 
were out in great numbers and the Hylas added their voices 
•> 
to the chorus. To the westward, on the Great Meadow^, a 
Bittern was pumping and two Carolina Rails singingTJ I found 
several ladies' slippers in full bloom on the summit of 
this ridge. 
7 
