During the winter of 1880–81, no less than seven specimens of the little Acadian Owl (Nyctale acadica) were taken, all within a few days’ time. Two specimens of the Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) were also taken at the same time. During the fall of 1879, a fine specimen of the American Raven (Corvus corax carnivorus) remained in this immediate vicinity for nearly a month, but successfully eluded capture. A single specimen of the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) was taken in December, 1874.
Although the recorded instances of the breeding of the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) in New England are rather numerous, the following notes may not be entirely devoid of interest. One rainy day last season (June 5, 1880) as I was seated on the porch of a neighbor’s house, my attention was attracted by a Shrike flying past several times. I watched the bird and saw it fly to the top of an old apple tree. The tree was not more than two rods from the house, and was densely overrun with a large grape vine. I climbed the tree, and, about twenty feet from the ground, found the nest, and, much to my disappointment, found no eggs, but four nearly fledged young. The old birds were very tame, and flew about within a few feet of my head.
This season I visited the locality May 16, and was fortunate enough to find a nest and four fresh eggs. The nest was in an apple tree, perhaps three rods from the nest of last year; was composed of coarse sticks and weeds, very deeply hollowed, and lined with wool and twine. I took both parent birds with the nest, thus rendering the identification positive.
A few days after this (May 23, 1881) some boys told me they had found a “Cat Bird’s” nest in an apple tree about a mile from the vicinity of the other nests. They had climbed the tree, and said “the old bird flew at them, and snapped her bill hard!” I knew this to be a Shrike, and, when I visited the place, had the pleasure of securing another nest, containing six eggs, with the female parent. The nest was much like the other, but was perhaps deeper, and lined entirely with feathers.
The Great Northern Shrike (Lanius borealis) is a rather rare species, being most frequently observed in spring.
The Scarlet Tanagers (Pyranga rubra) first made their appearance about here in the summer of 1875, when a single pair nested. Since then they have gradually increased until probably twenty pairs nested the past season. Strange as it may seem, I have never taken the common Titlark (Anthus ludovicianus) during the spring migrations, although they are usually abundant in the fall.—F. H. Knowlton, Brandon, Vt.
Erratum.—In Vol. VI, p. 199, lines 9 and 10. for “centimeters” read millimeters.
BULLETIN
OF THE
NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.
VOL. VII. April, 1882. No. 2.
ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS LATELY MADE BY MR. F. STEPHENS IN ARIZONA.
BY WILLIAM BREWSTER.