254 



Bird - Lore 



an egg. Every day there was one more, 

 until she had four. 



In about nine days the birds were 

 hatched; and now the parents were busy. 

 All day long, at short intervals, they were 

 bringing food — great, fat, green worms, etc. 

 One wonders how such tiny things can 

 eat so much. 



Three weeks from the daj^ the last egg 

 was laid, the little birds were ready to Qy. 



On Sunday afternoon I noticed one 

 bird sitting on the edge of the nest, 

 fluttering its wings. 



Monday morning there were only three 

 little ones in the nest, and, upon exami- 

 nation, I found the fourth one caught in 

 the tree just below the nest, one shoulder 

 badly torn, and quite dead. A short time 

 afterward I saw only two, then only one. 

 I soon discovered one in a young elm tree 

 in front of the house, and the other in the 

 grass across the street. The last one re- 

 mained quietly in the nest for several 

 hours. Finally he got up, picked his 

 feathers, fluttered his wings (the mother 

 coming repeatedly to feed him, and 

 fluttering about the tub, as though show- 

 ing him how to fly), and away he flew 

 across the tennis-court into the top of a 

 bass wood tree. 



The neighbors back of us have a family 

 of Song Sparrows in the middle of the 

 strawberry bed, where they are picking 

 strawberries every day. — Anna E- Agate, 

 Pittsford, N. V. 



raising its wings several times, before 

 flying to the top of a dead tree across the 

 meadow. — Willis G. Booth, Syracuse, 

 X. V. 



A Patient Robin 



This Robin built her nest on the picket 

 gate between the chicken yards, and it was 

 torn down several times, as this gate has 

 to be constantly used, and she could 

 never sit in peace, but she rebuilt patiently 

 until the poultryman transferred it to a 

 part of the fence a little less i)ublic. Here 



A Northern Turkey Vulture 



In view of the fact that Princeton, 

 N. J., is said to be the limit north of the 

 range of the Turkey Buzzard, you may 

 be interested to know that I had a long 

 look at close range at one perched on a 

 fence-post, evidently watching some wood- 

 chuck holes close by, at Pompey, Onon- 

 daga Co., N. Y., August 12, 191 1. 



I am wondering if the exceptionally 

 wa rm summer has anything to do with its 

 presence so far north. It stamped one foot, 

 snapped its beak and hissed repeatedly. 



she sat, without minding the presence of 

 five hundred chickens, and all the attend- 

 ance thereon, and safely reared her young. 

 This year there were several Robins 

 around the Hospital, on a level with the 

 second, and even the fourth floor, outside 

 the noisiest wards, and one high on the 

 water-tower. In destroying the nests of 

 English Sparrows, it was necessary to 

 caution the men about these. A pair of 

 Loggerhead Shrikes spent much time on 

 the telephone wire, and did great execu- 

 tion among the English Sparrows. — Anne 

 E. Perkins, M. D., Goic'a)!da. N. Y. 



