Notes from Field and Study 



U5 



making ;i sulTicienl flooring for liicir nesl. 

 Here they had piled and woven together 

 a lot of material, in the top of wliidi. 

 right under the eaves, they liad tornu'd ;i 

 cosy nest, and had reared 

 at least one brood, per- 

 haps two, as they began to 

 breed early in the spring. 

 My friends insist that 

 no person had, to their 

 knowledge, placed the 

 cob there, nor do they 

 believe any one did. 

 What motive could any 

 person have had for put- 

 ting a cob in such a 

 place? The birds left 

 one end of the cob ex- 

 tending out on the near 

 side of the nest, afford- 

 ing them a perch to 

 stand on while they fed 

 their bantlings. M> 

 friends and I can come 

 to only one conclusion- 

 that the Sparrows them- 

 selves carried the cob up 

 to the brackets and 

 placed it in position. 

 But how did they do this? 

 The cob was a good-sized 

 one. Do other observers 

 know of similar in- 

 stances? — Le.\nder S. 

 Keyser, Canal Dover. 

 Ohio. 



Some Rare Ducks Wintering Near 

 Boston 



It is the custom with the park authori- 

 ties in Boston, when the ponds are freezing. 

 to catch the tame Ducks and put them 

 in winter quarters. For several years past, 

 a number of the tame Mallards have 

 refused to go into the cage, and have 

 flown about during the winter from place 

 to place in the park system, seeking the 

 small open places of water. 



One of these refuges, always open, is 

 near the lower end of Leverett Pond. 

 This pond is a small body of water bor- 

 dered on one side by the most populous 



of Hrooklini- \illage, and crossed 

 s lower end l)>- a broad thoroughfare, 

 whit h pass a constant stream of 

 cles and electric cars. The waters 



K. IlAl.hl' \ 1 I 

 P.\1R Ol' J .-\ 

 Phototrraphei 



of a good-sized brook, led underground 

 through the village and becoming tem- 

 pered thereby, empty into the lower end 

 of the pond, and prevent it from ever 

 entirely freezing over. 



Jamaica Pond is another and much 

 larger body of water, a little farther up 

 the same park system. With the tame 

 Ducks acting as decoys, many migrating 

 Ducks are attracted here in the fall. 

 Most of these Ducks remain contentedly 

 until the pond freezes over, when they, 

 presumably, seek a warmer clime. 



During the winter of 1908-1909, 

 however, a male Baldpale. a rare Duck 

 in this vicinity, stayed on Jamaica Pond 



