THE MERRILL SONG SPARROW. 



141 



is the choice morsel of ex'erything that prevs, — cats, skunks, weasels, chip- 

 munks. Sharp-shinned Hawks, Crows, Magpies, Black-headed Jays, and garter 

 snakes. How would this motley company fare were it not for the annual 

 crop of Song Sparrows? And the wonder of it is that the brave heart 

 holds out and sings its song of trust and love with the ruins of three nests 

 behind it and the har\'est not vet past. 



Taken iu Oregon. 



I'lioto by A. W. Anthony. 



A profe:ssion.-\l oologist. 



A little glimpse of Nature's prodigality in this regard was afiforded by 

 a pair which nested on my grounds in the Ahtanum A^allev. On the 4th 

 of June I came upon a nest in a rose l_)ush, containing four \-oung just 

 hatched, and these almost immediately disaiipeared — a second, or possiblv 

 a third, attempt for tlie season. On July 4lh in an adjoining clump the 

 same pair was discovered with three well-fledged young, which, for aught 

 I know, reached days of self-dependence. On July 24th a nest was found 

 some twenty feet away containing four eggs, which I knew, l:)oth bv the 

 familiar notes and by elimination, to belong to this pair ; but the nest was 

 empty on the day following. 



At tlie beginning of the season nests are frequently made upon the 

 ground under cover of old vegetation, or at the base of protecting bush 

 clumps in swamps. Occasional ground nests may also be found thruout 

 the season. One seen at Stehekin on August T^d was nestled looselv in a 

 recumbent potato vine. At other times any situation in bush or tree, up 

 to twenty feet, is acceptable, if only within con\'enient reach of water. A 



