Notes from Field and Study 



147 



ai'iommodaU- ;in\ bird of this l(nalil\- 

 necking such a home. HliU'l)ir(ls liaxc hrcn 

 nestiiiK in <>ni' or the other ol' the two 

 suitable boxes for >'ears. never in l)oth 

 at the same time. Sometimes they ha\e 

 had Wrens for neighbors, and sometimes 

 they have succeeded in keeping the tree 

 to themselves. This year, the Blues came 

 and looked the houses over, but finally 

 decided that the orchard offered greater 

 inducements. .\ pair of Wrens early pre- 

 empted the bo.\ with the protective door- 

 way, while a pair of Great-crested Fly- 

 catchers were industriously examining 

 into the desirability of the others. On 

 May 25, the Great-crests set to work in 

 earnest, building in the box next to the 

 home of the Wrens — only about eight 

 feet away. Now, June 13, the nest is 

 complete, the eggs are laid, and every- 

 thing is lovely; that is, it might be if the 

 neighbors were a little more neighborly. 

 The Wrens seem to have great respect, if 

 but little love, for their big neighbors, 

 while the Great-crests do not seem to 

 have much of either for their puny ones. 

 The Wrens are never seen near the home 

 of the Great-crests, while the latter per- 

 sistently torment their little neighbors. One 

 of them will sit at the Wrens' door for 

 hve minutes at a time, unable to enter, 

 but impudently peeping in, to the great 

 disgust of the outraged householders. — 

 Kgbert T. Bush, Slockloii. X. J. 



Purple Martin Increasing 



During the spring of iqcg and 19 10, I 

 have distributed several hundred copies 

 of National Association Si)ecial Leaflet 

 No. 2, "The Purple Martin," to schools 

 and individuals. The result has been 

 gratifying beyond expectation. Just a 

 few years ago, the Purjile Martin was 

 a scarce article, almost an unknown 

 quantity. Now I am confident that a 

 hundred \Knr. or more, can be found 

 within a radius of three miles, .\ftcr dis- 

 tributing the leaflets, bird-boxes went up 

 on all sides, to mj- surprise and satisfac- 

 tion. Before the distribution, few people 

 knew what a Puri)le .Martin was; but 



now an interest is developing rapiiUx', 

 which also means that there will be lovers 

 of other birds. 1, myself, have a colonj' of 

 nineteen pairs of Martins, A cat caught 

 a few Martins (the cat is not mine), and 

 such cats should be dealt with summarily, 

 as they no doubt take first ])lace as de- 

 stroyers of birds. However, a remedy is 

 difficult to find. The I^iglish Sparrow 

 is also the arch cMieiny of the Purple 

 Martin, and other birds that nest in 

 boxes or h o 1 1 o w trees. — Fkkoin and 

 ScHREiM.w, Concordia, Mo. 



Notes on Swainson's Hawk 



On the evening of .\pril 8, 1909, a flock 

 of about seventy-five Swainson's Hawks 

 appeared here, and scattered to several 

 eucalyptus groves to roost. Some soared 

 high above the groves, while others 

 flew directly into the trees; but by dark 

 they were all in the trees. 



The next morning some of them flew 

 to the fields and hunted, while others 

 remained in the groves. During the day, 

 they flew away to the southeast, and did 

 not appear here again. They were in 

 several different phases of plumage. They 

 were very tame, and allowed me to pass 

 under the trees they were in without fly- 

 ing. I never saw Hawks in large flocks 

 here before, and would like to learn if this 

 is a common thing among Swainson's 

 Hawks. — John McB. Robertsox, Biicita 

 Park. Oraiii^r Co., Cal. 



Late Stay of the Evening Grosbeaks 



The following will possibly be of some 

 interest to your readers. During the win- 

 ter of 1909-10, a colony of twenty or 

 more Evening Grosbeaks took up their 

 residence in the neighborhood of the King 

 Philip mine, of this place. Their principal 

 food consisted, apparently, of the scraps 

 they could pick up from the rock pile at 

 the mine, .\fter a car of rock was dumped 

 on the pile, the birds would fly down and 

 pick the \n\c over before the car was back 

 to the shafthousc. Waste from the miners' 

 dinner-]iails was probably choice living 



