8 THE AUDUBON BULL ETAN 
side of a small tree. I still wonder how that bird found that nesting site. 
Redstarts were building nests, and robins and the white-breasted nuthatch 
were already established on the grounds; a scarlet tanager was building its 
nest in the nursery grounds; red-eyed vireos were everywhere. It was 
decided that a nest discovered just before we left was being built by a 
myrtle warbler; if so it would be a record nesting. There were numbers 
of other warblers, such as Blackburnians, ovenbirds, pine and mourning 
warblers, and northern yellow-throats, but they were nesting in the woods 
away from the camp grounds. The combined list of birds seen at the end 
of the four days was 105; my list was 65. 
One morning I heard what I thought was either a red-bellied or a 
pileated woodpecker, but when I mentioned it they told me that the red- 
bellied didn’t come that far north; so it possibly was the pileated. Not 
being able to see it, it remains just another “it-might-have-been.” The 
pileated was seen over in the Hartwell pines, and it was not an impossibility 
for one to have strayed over fo our camp. Unfortunately pileated wood- 
peckers are not protected, and hunters don’t seem to enjoy seeing living 
birds. They told me that 800 snowy owls were killed in the State of 
Michigan. during the last winter and spring. It seems dreadful that such 
things should be. 
About eight of us saw the nuptial performance of the purple finch. 
There was a pair, and a little later another male flew in. The first male 
continued to strut back and forth on the bare branch of a small tree, with 
wings fluttering and the feathers on his head raised almost to form a 
crest. The second male did not perform, and the strutting male did not 
attempt to drive the intruder away. Two ornithologists, Mr. Empey and 
Mr. Peterson, said they had just witnessed something which they had 
never seen before. 
Meals were always served on time, so it did not pay to be late. It was 
a very good thing for us to have something to draw us back before it 
became so dark that some of us might lose our way. The evenings were 
spent seeing moving pictures of the camp and listening to talks by Mr. 
Brigham and Mr. Martin. The last evening included an auction of nylon 
stockings, a fine pair of binoculars, and a light gauge for a camera. The 
bids on the nylons were a quarter, time was set, and the last person to 
put up a quarter got the stockings. It was a lot of fun, and a considerable 
amount was taken in to go toward a fund for an Audubon camp. 
Trips have been taken where things did not all turn out so well (we 
had no fleas, chiggers, mosquitoes or woodticks), but this trip was all I 
asked for and more. Our journey was complete with the making of many 
new friends, each one helping the other to see the interesting things, and 
taking those in their cars who came without. It was an unusual sight to 
see sO many cars together in a wilderness country. I hope it may be 
possible for me to join that happy group again next year. 
