could hear the whistle which I presume was made by his 
wings from the moment he left the ground until he alighted 
again, but we never heard his real song until the second time 
he passed over us and just before he was about to come down. 
He came down very quickly, almost a drop at first and then 
a slide at a sharp angle. His song is a sweet whistle sug¬ 
gesting to me the tones boys sometimes get on the penny 
trombone whistles. 
C. E. Chase. 
A Virginia Rail at Salem, Mass., January 1920 
On January 3rd I was visiting a trap set for mink in a spring 
which runs out through some alders. On reaching the spot 
I was startled by a bird flying from my feet only to alight 
about fifteen feet away. Imagine my surprise when 1 saw 
it was a Virginia Rail which showed no evidence of being 
crippled. 
The spring only afforded a stream of some thirty feet of 
open water running through black ooze and from there on it 
was frozen up. I watched the Rail search for food for a few 
minutes and then left it. The Rail was not to be found 
January 8th. January 13th I set a steel trap in some 
muskrat workings. January 15th I did not see the Rail 
but on January 17th I discovered that the bird had returned 
and been so unfortunate as to spring the trap, but some 
creature had made a meal of him so that all that was left were 
some feathers on the water and one leg in the trap-jaws, these 
I carried home as evidence, fully realizing their importance. 
G. M. Teel. 
Notes On Nesting and Other Habits of The Ruby- 
Throated Hummingbird 
I have been interested in Ruby-throats since boyhood, and 
during that time have located thirty or more of their nests. 
While the Ruby-throat appears in our region early in May — 
40 
