BIRD NOTES 199 



young. The robin did not seem to realize the babies needed food 

 for quice a few days, and to my knowledge fed them only once. 



Of course this state of affairs could not lasu long and in six days 

 from the advent of the robin I noticed the nest was deserted 

 When I climbed up co see what was in the nest I found the four 

 babies dead. 



The only cause we could guess for the adoption of the nest by 

 the robin was that her own nest had been destroyed in some way 

 and her maternal instincts were so strong she had to adopt another 

 family. The chippies of course were so small that they could offer 

 no resistance while one of her own species would certainly have 

 fought her. 



A pair of birds that I forgot to mention raised four healthy broods 

 in an old telegraph pole near us. Each brood had at least four 

 young and no trouble was found that hampered them in their 

 development. This species was, of course, the Enghsh Sparrow. 



THE NEST OF THE BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER 

 Dorothy K. Cleaveland, Canton, N. Y. 



July 13th was anything but an unluck\^ day for me — for on that 

 day I had one of my rarest bird treats. We were taking a tramp 

 through the upper Reservation of the Appalachian Club at North 

 Woodstock, New Hampshire. The fall before, a new trail had been 

 cut through the back part of the Reservation where the ground is 

 rather swampy ; it was merely blazed and in some places hard to 

 keep. 



I was leading, breaking my way through an undergrowth of 

 young basswood, when suddenly from right in front of me, not three 

 feet away shot out a little mother-bird, crying and pretending to be 

 hurt and in great distress. I knew her nest must be near, so I 

 stepped forward and looked and there in the crotch of a young 

 basswood was a Httle nest with four naked, bhnd birdlings in it. 

 Two big leaves sheltered it from sun, wind and prying eyes. 



The next thing, of course, was to identify the mother. She was 

 still near us, crying and fluttering around — too frightened for her 

 babies to go far away when we refused to follow her. I took her 

 points, especially the white spot on the wing at the base of the 

 primaries, which satisfied me that I had found the home and family 

 of the beautiful Black-throated Blue Warbler — though his wife had 



