198 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 191 



A WILLY-NILLY STEPMOTHER AND OTHER DISASTERS 

 Alfred Emerson 

 Nature-Study Teacher in Campus School, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The tragedies of the bird world were brought home to me last 

 spring while obser\nng the raising of twelve different families 

 immediately surrounding my house. These nests included three 

 robins', two cedar waxwing's, a chickadee's, a yellow warbler's, a 

 catbird's, a bluebird's, a red-eyed vireo's, a meadowlark's, and a 

 chipping sparrow's. All these but four raised their families to 

 maturit3^ One pair of robins, one pair of cedar waxwings, the 

 chickadees, and the catbirds brought their young through, but the 

 rest perished in one way or another. The red-eyed vireo raised a 

 fat cowbird instead of its own babies ; man was responsible for the 

 loss of che meadowlark's nest, and the rest, with the exception of 

 the chipping sparrow's, were destroyed by cats. 



In the case of the chipping sparrows I observed a remarkable 

 occurrence which I had never observed before nor have known of any 

 similar case. The chippy's nest was situated in a small elm tree 

 ■about seven feet from the ground. I first found the nest after 

 four eggs were already deposited. The little parents seemed quite 

 happy and contented, and the male especially could be heard chip- 

 ping away in a nearby tree for most of the day. The female was 

 usually found on the nest and did not mind our approach to 

 observing distance in the least. The chippies seem to have con- 

 fidence in man, more so than any other sparrows and these in 

 particular, trusted me completely. 



One day after the eggs had hatched, I found much to my surprise 

 that a robin had driven the distracted parents from the nest and 

 was attempting to sit on the young, although she did not nestle 

 ver\^ close. I, of course, having sympathy for the chippies, drove 

 the robin off and let che rightful parents come back, but as soOn as 

 I was safe in distance away the robjn returned. Our whole house 

 became interested in the affair and each of us would drive the robin 

 off whenever we passed, but to little avail. The true parents were 

 very anxious to keep che hungry mouths filled, but the robin would 

 still sit on the nest while the forlorn chippies would hop within a 

 few inches of the nest with large amounts of food for the gaping 

 mouchs. They would remain very close to the nest fearlessly while 

 we chased che robin off', and then would come quickly to feed che 



