CANADA WARBLER. HEMLOCK WARBLER. RED-POLL WARBLER. MOURNING WARBLER. ash. Cheeks, collar round the neck, and ash, with central parts of the feathers on under parts generally, white, largely spot- the head, black, giving it a dark spotted ted with black on the breast and sides; line appearance. Wings and tail brown, edged of black spots from the chin towards the with grayish. Line under the eye descenshoulders. Two white bars on the wings. ding down the side of the throat towards Primaries brown, edged on their outer the shoulders, black. Spot in the forehead, webs with greenish yellow. Tail, wood a broad line towards the eye, and all bebrown, the two outer feathers on each side neath, bright lemon yellow. A broad having large white spots on their inner rounded band of black spots across the webs. Bill, dark horn color. Tail emar- breast, forming a sort of collar. Under ginate, reaching three-fourths of an inch tail coverts white, tinged with yellow. beyond the folded wings. Legs, flesh color. Upper mandible brownish; the lower manFemale and young dull yellowish olive, dible, the legs and feet, flesh color. Second streaked with black and gray. Length 5 and third primaries subequal, longest. inches; spread, 8. Tail long, rounded, reaching 1.2 beyond HISTORY.-The Blackpoll Warbler is pret- the tips of the folded wings. The female is ty generally diffused over the United States, greenish above, and all its markings less and has been observed as far north as the distinct. Length, 5 inches; spread, 8.5. 54th parallel of latitude. Audubon found HISTORY-This is a rare species, being the nest of this species in Labrador, built only occasionally met with in Vermont. in the forked branches of a fir tree, about It breeds, according to Audubon, in Pennthree feet from the ground. It was formed sylvania, Maine, and the British Provinces, of mosses and lichens, lined first with coarse and if so, it doubtless breeds in Vermont, dried grass, then with fine moss, and lastly with feathers. The nest contained 4 eggs, but he has given no description of them. It probably breeds in Vermont, but I am not aware that its nest has ever been found here. THE RED-POLL WARBLER. The though I am not aware that its nest has THE HEMLOCK WARBLER. Sylvia ruficapilla.-LATHAM. DESCRIPTION.-General aspect brownish olive, streaked with dusky brown; crown DESCRIPTION.- Color above greenish yeldark rufous. Line over the eye, and all low, striped with dusky; bill, wings and beneath, yellow. The two lateral tail feath-tail brownish black; two white bars on the ers with large spots of white on their inner wings; quills edged with greenish. Line webs, extending to their tips. The yellow over the eye, throat and neck yellow; beon the breast streaked and spotted with neath, yellow, streaked with dusky on the bay. Legs and bill dusky brown. The breast and sides; under tail coverts white; first three quills nearly equal, second long-patches of white on the inner webs of the est. Tail slightly notched, and reaches two outer tail feathers; legs and under one inch beyond the folded wings. Female mandible greenish yellow. First quill without the rufous crown, and having the longest; tail emarginate. Length, 5.25; spots on the breast brown instead of bay. spread, 8.5 In the young male the crown is spotted with bay, and the breast yellowish brown. Length, 4.75; spread, 7.5. HISTORY.-The history of this little warbler appears to be very little known. I have two specimens, a male and a female, from which the above description is drawn. They were both shot by my friend Paine, in Orange county, in 1848, one on the 20th of April and the other in September. It has been observed, according to DeKay, from Mexico to the 55th degree of north latitude. Whether it breeds or not in Vermont, I have not been able to ascertain. THE CANADA WARBLER. HISTORY.-This bird resides, for the most part, in thick Hemlock forests, and hence it has derived its name. Its nest, according to Audubon, is usually built in a hemlock or spruce, at a considerable elevation from the ground, and is composed of slender twigs and lichens, and lined with hair and feathers. The specimen above described was shot in Randolph, and the bird, no doubt, breeds here. THE MOURNING WARBLER. Sylvia philadelphia.-WILSON. DESCRIPTION.-Head and sides of the neck bluish slate; upper parts of the body, wings and tail, dark yellowish olive-green; space before the eye, and frontlet, black. PARTI-COLORED WARBLER. MEALY REDPOLL. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. SCARLET TANAGER. Chin, throat and sides of the neck bluish and posterior part of the rump, in the male, gray. Breast black, with numerous fine crescent-shaped blue-gray lines. Beneath bright lustrous yellow. Bill smoky horn color; legs flesh color. In the female and the young, the throat and breast are buff, the latter much the darkest, and all the upper parts are a greenish olive. Length, 5 inches; spread, 7.5. HISTORY.-The Mourning Warbler derives its name from its peculiar melancholy notes. The specimen, from which the above description is chiefly drawn, was shot by my friend, C. S. Paine, in Randolph, on the 4th of July. It was a male, had with it a mate and a brood of young ones, just able to fly. This warbler is a rare bird, and is of shy and solitary habits. Its range, so far as at present ascertained, is between the 23d and 47th parallels of latitude. THE PARTI-COLORED WARBLER. pale carmine. First primary longest, second and third nearly equal. Bill yellow, brownish towards the point; very acute, upper mandible longest. Hind nail long as the toe. Length, 5.5 inches; spread, 9. HISTORY.-This species, though very rare, is quite widely diffused, being found in Maine, New Jersey and Oregon. The specimen from which the above description was made, was shot in Randolph, in the winter of 1850. They appeared there in flocks, and fed upon the seeds of weeds, which projected through the snow, in the open fields. They were not seen in the forests. Its notes were very much like those of the common yellow bird, F. tristis. In appearance it very closely resembles the Lesser Redpoll, F. linaria;-so closely that there is some difficulty in distinguishing them. It is, however, somewhat larger, and its colors a little lighter, particularly on the rump. Sylvia americana.-LATHAM. THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. DESCRIPTION,-Color pale blue above, with a large golden umber spot on the Coccoborus ludovicianus.-LINNÆUS. back. Upper mandible black; lower, yel- DESCRIPTION.-Head, chin and upper lowish. Chin, throat and lower part of parts mostly black, varied with white on the breast, bright yellow. A blackish the wings and rump. Tail and wings collar, bordered below with umber, mixed brownish, with a broad white bar across with yellow. Sides, under the edges of the the quills of the latter, and a narrower one folded wings, spotted with bay. Belly on the wing coverts. Breast and under bluish white. Two white bars on the wings; wing coverts carmine, or bright rose color. and outer tail feathers largely spotted with Beneath, yellowish white. Bill, cream white, on their inner webs. Wings and color; legs and feet grayish brown. Female tail brown, the quills and feathers edged brown above, spotted with dull white on the with light blue, on their outer webs. Legs wings; three yellowish white bands on the and feet fuliginous. Three first quills head, one passing from the bill over the nearly equal. Female without the dark crown to the occiput, and one passing along collar on the breast. Length, 4.5, spread, each side of the head, just over the eye. Feathers on the breast yellowish, with a HISTORY.-This very beautiful little war-brown central streak; under wing coverts bler ranges from Mexico to the 46th parallel sulphur yellow; no rose color. Bill brown of latitude, and is very common in the horn color. Tail slightly emarginate. Bill western states. It arrives in New England notched near the point. Second quill longabout the beginning of May. Its nest, ac-est. Length, 8 inches; spread, 13. cording to Audubon, is built in the upright HISTORY.-The range of this bird is said forks of small trees, and is composed prin- to be from Texas to the 56th parallel of cipally of lichens, lined with downy sub-latitude. Though not numerous in Verstances. The eggs, about 4, are white, mont, they are frequently met with and with a few reddish dots near the larger end. rear their young here. Its nest is usually built in thick forests, at a considerable height from the ground, and composed of twigs and lined with grass. The eggs are 4 or 5, bluish and spotted with brown. 6.4 inches. THE MEALY REDPOLL. Fringilla borealis.-SAVI. DESCRIPTION.-Above dusky, streaked with yellowish white and rusty. Wings and tail, hair-brown, the feathers edged and tipped with yellowish white. Rump whitish. Crown dark rich crimson. Frontlet, lores and throat black. Beneath, gray- short, compressed towards the point, and ish white, streaked with dusky. Legs, feet acute. The second quill longest. and nails black. Cheeks, sides of the body slightly forked. In the male, the plumage THE SCARLET TANAGER. Tanagra rubra.-LINNEUS. DESCRIPTION.-The bill robust, rather Tail CRESTED WOODPECKER. CHIMNEY SWALLOW. SWALLOW TREES. is of a brilliant scarlet, excepting the wings reaching three inches beyond the tip of the and tail, which are black, and the under folded wing. wing coverts, which are yellow. Bill and legs brownish horn color. Female and young dull green, or brownish yellow. Wings and tail, brown, with the feathers edged with greenish. Color of the bill and legs lighter than in the male. Length, 6.6 inches; spread, 10.5. Though no where numerous, this Woodpecker is found in all parts of the United States and as far north as the 63d parallel of latitude. In Vermont it has been very generally called the Woodcock. It is a HISTORY.-For the specimen here described I was indebted to Mr. Austin Isham, of Williston, who shot it near Shelburne pond, on the 10th of November, 1851. It was a female, and on skinning and dissecting it, I found in its craw more than 100 flat, jointed worms. They were, most of them, HISTORY. This bird, on account of the entire, about an inch long, and of a yellowbright red color of the male, is sometimes ish white color; such, in short, as are very called the Fire Bird. It is also known in common between the bark and wood of old many places as the Blackwinged Red Bird. trees. The gizzard contained parts of It rears its young in Vermont, but is said worms, and a large quantity of the fragto extend its summer migrations northward, ments of ants and coleopterous insects, but as far as the 69th parallel of latitude. Its no gravel. nest is usually built on the horizontal branch of a forest tree, 10 or 15 feet from the ground. It is composed of sticks, weeds and vines, nicely put together, and lined with finer materials. The eggs are usually 4, of a dull blue color, spotted with very restless and retired bird, confining different shades of brown. It is a shy bird, occupying retired places, and manifests great solicitude for the safety of its young. One of the nests of this bird, found by my indefatigable friend, Paine, in Randolph, was on the branch of a maple, in the skirt of a forest, was 10 feet from the ground, and composed of hemlock twigs, laced and bound together with fibrous weeds and strings. It was 1.5 inch deep, and contained three eggs. The male bird showed much uneasiness when the discoverer 6 purely white eggs. approached the nest. THE CRESTED WOODPECKER. himself chiefly to the depths of the forests, and hence he is much more frequently heard than seen. In the early part of spring, as is well known to those employed at that season in the manufacture of maple sugar, his loud cackle and the sound of his powerful blows upon the old trees, are heard, reverberating through the naked forests, to a great distance. Like the other woodpeckers, it builds its nest in a cavity, hollowed out of an old tree, and lays about CHIMNEY SWALLOW,-(Part I-98.) Cypselus pelasgius.-TEM. Picus pileatus.--LINNEUS. DESCRIPTION.-General color black. Chin In our account of this bird, we spoke of white, with a rusty white stripe over the its habit, when the country was new, of eye, and another from the nostril extending resorting in immense numbers to hollow backward along the side of the neck to the trees, in spring and autumn, and that there base of the wings, which are, on the under were many trees in this state, which were, side, of a delicate straw color. Vanes of on that account, extensively known as the basal part of the wing feathers, white swallow trees. Many of these trees had, on the upper side, but nearly concealed by probably, been resorted to by thousands of the wing coverts, when the wing is closed. birds, year after year, for centuries. The Crest and mustachios, in the male, bright consequence would naturally be, that the yellowish carmine red; crown variegated hollow, in which they roosted, would be with black and golden yellow. Irides gradually filled up from the bottom, by the bright orange; bill and claws dark horn excrement, cast off feathers, exuvia of incolor, the bill a little lighter below, sharply sects, and rotten wood; and trees have been ridged above and on the sides; with the often found in this condition, long after the mandibles, which are of equal length, swallows had ceased to resort to them; and brought to vertical cutting edges at their even after they had been blown down, and points. Tongue slender, protractile and had become rotten by lying. One of this barbed towards the point. Tail wedge-kind, in Ohio, is described in Harris' Jourshaped; feathers 12, stiff and pointed, cen-nal, and quoted in Wilson's Ornithology. tral ones longest. Length of the specimen The tree was a sycamore, five feet in diamhere described, which was a female, 18 in-eter, which had been blown down, and ches; spread, 28; from the point of the bill to the feathers 2.4;to the top of the crest 4.5. Length of the folded wing, 9.5,-tail, 7, whose immense hollow was found filled, for the space of 15 feet, with a "mass of decayed feathers, with an admixture of brownish dust and the exuvia of various insects." AMERICAN BITTERN. ing the feathers. But, if done quietly, what did it? What insect would devour The remains of a tree of this description the bones, and beaks, and claws, and not were found in this state, in Middlebury, so meddle with the quills? Or would the lately as the spring of 1852. The tree had formic, or any other acid, which might be been blown down, and had, nearly all, generated within the mass, dissolve the rotted away, leaving little besides the cyl- former without affecting the latter? These indrical mass, which had filled its hollow. are questions, to which the savans have The length of this mass was about seven not yet returned any satisfactory response. feet, and its diameter 15 inches. Of the A specimen, from the above mentioned materials, which composed it, about one feathery mass, was obtained, in May, 1852, half consisted of the feathers of the Chim- by Mr. J. A. Jameson, Tutor in the Uniney Swallow, being, for the most part, versity of Vermont, and presented, by him, wing and tail-feathers. The other half to the Museum of that Institution, to be was made up of exuvia of insects, mostly preserved as a relic of primeval Vermont. fragments and eggs of the large wood-ant, and a brown substance, probably derived from the decayed wood of the interior of the PASSENGER PIGEON—(Part I, p. 100.) tree. Columba migratoria.—Liss. This discovery at Middlebury, though interesting, would not have been regarded ed and reared their young in large numbers, Having learned that Pigeons had appear as very remarkable, if the materials, which had filled the hollow of the tree, had been promiscuously and disorderly mingled together. Such a jumbled mass would be what we should expect to find in a hollow tree which had been, for centuries, perhaps, the roosting place of myriads of Swal in the spring of 1849, in several towns on the Green Mountains, particularly in Fayston and Warren, in Washington county, and being desirous in case they should return there the next spring, to visit the localities, for the purpose of observing the habits of the Pigeons, and securing some of general arrangement, the larger feathers their eggs for specimens, I addressed a note have nearly all their quills pointing out-of inquiry to Jacob Boyce, Esq., of Fayston. ward, while their plumes, or ends on which To this note I received the following reply: their webs are arranged, point inward. FAYSTON, June 28, 1850. lows. But this is not the case. In their This arrangement might perhaps have MR. THOMPSON : arisen from the nesting of small quadru- Sir, I have received yours of the 10th peds in the hollow, making the feathers inst., requesting information about Pigeons. their bed. But this is not the most remark-They are not here the present season. Last able circumstance connected with the sub-year they came here early in April, and ject. In various parts of the mass, are commenced building their nests by the found, in some cases, all the primary middle of that month; and they left here feathers of the wing; in others, all the with their young, about the middle of June. feathers of the tail, lying together in con- Their nests extended over a territory of, at tact, and in precisely the same order and least, 2,000 acres. Above the height of 25 position, in which they are found in the feet from the ground, the tops of the trees living swallow. In a lump of the materials, were covered with nests. Some large measuring not more than 7 inches by 5, birches had from 100 to 125 nests on a and less than 3 inches thick, five wings and tree. The nests consisted of bunches of two tails were plainly seen, with their sticks, placed in the crotches of the limbs. feathers arranged as above mentioned, and, They laid only two eggs in a nest, and in one of the wings, all the secondary quills raised only one brood. There might have were also arranged in their true position with regard to the primaries. Now, we cannot conceive it possible that these feathers could be shed by living birds, and be thus deposited. We may suppose that the birds died there, and that their flesh had been removed by decay, or by insects, without deranging the feathers. But in that case, what has become of the skeletons? I do not learn that a bone, beak, or claw, has been found in any part of the whole mass. What, then, has become of these? They could hardly have been removed by violent means, without disturb been any quantity of eggs obtained from Respectfully yours, AMERICAN BITTERN. Ardea minor.--WILSON. DESCRIPTION.-General color yellowish ferruginous, mottled and sprinkled with dark brown. Crown dusky reddish brown. with brown. SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER. THE GREATER YELLOW-SHANKS. Totanus melanoleucas.-GEMLIN. DESCRIPTION.-Color of the upper parts brown, spotted with black and white. Bill, black; rump and tail dusky white, barred Throat, belly, and under tail coverts, white. Legs and feet yellow. A small black spot before the angle of the Shaft of the first primary white. eye. Length, 13 inches; folded wing, 7.25; bill, along the ridge, 2.1; under mandible shorter, and both cylindrical towards the point. Tarsus 2.5 inches long; middle toe to the nail 1.5. A short web between the inner and middle toes. Some of HISTORY.-This bird appears in Vermont in the latter part of May, proceeding northward, where it is found in the summer up to the 60th degree of latitude. them, however, remain in Vermont through the summer, and breed here. It builds its nest, according to Nuttall, in a tuft of rank grass, on the border of a creek or bog, and lays 4 eggs of a dingy white color, marked with spots of dark brown. The eggs are said to be remarkably large for the size of the bird. Perhaps its most common vulgar name is that of Tell-Tale. THE SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER. HISTORY.-The specimen of American Tringa semipalmata.—WILSON.| Bittern described above, was presented to DESCRIPTION. The bill is shorter than me by my friend, N. A. Tucker, Esq. It the head, straight, enlarged and flattened was shot by him in his garden, in Burlington village, where it had alighted, on the towards the end, and acutely pointed at the 30th of April, 1845. It was a female, and tip. Tibia one-fourth naked; tarsus comcontained several eggs, which were somepressed and of the length of the bill. Hind what enlarged. About the first of June, toe short and small. First quill longest. Prof. J. Torrey found the nest of one of Tail pointed, reaching beyond the folded these birds in a swamp, in the east part of wings; middle feathers longest. The color Burlington. It was made on the ground, olive. General color above grayish ash, of the bill is black; the legs dark dusky of sticks and grass, was very shallow, and contained 6 eggs. The eggs were of a dark thickly streaked and spotted with dusky bluish brown clay color, and contained brown, while the feathers are edged with young, which were considerably advanced light gray and rufous. It is a This bird is called by a great variety of names, but is most generally known in Vermont by the name of Stake Driver. This name is given it, on account of the resemblance of the sound, it makes in the breeding season, to that made by a smart blow and its echo, in driving a stake into the ground, resembling somewhat the uncouth syllables of 'pump-au-gah. sly, solitary bird, and feeds on mice, aquatic reptiles and the larger insects, and though not often seen, its sound is not unfrequently heard during the summer, proceeding from the depths of the swamps, in various parts of the state. Its range, according to DeKay, is between the 38th and 58th parallels of latitude. Frontlet and line over the eye, light gray. All beneath, white, excepting the breast and lower front of the neck, which are gray, with brownish spots and streaks. Length, 6 inches; folded wing, 3.7; bill and tarsus each 0.8; middle toe, which is longest, including the nail, 0 8. HISTORY. This little Sandpiper ranges through all parts of the United States. It appears in Vermont in May, and remains here till autumn, and undoubtedly breeds here, although I have not seen its nest. According to Nuttall, it makes its nest, early in June, of withered grass, and lays 4 or 5 eggs, which are white, spotted with brown. For the specimen above described I am indebted to Mr. C. S. Paine, of Randolph, who shot it in the fall of 1850. |