3i8 Bird -Lore 



Notes on its increase or decrease, and its presence in poultry-yards where 

 the fowls are affected with parasites or the disease among Turkeys known as 

 "black-head," would be of value. Who will take up this line of work? — A. H. W. 



FROM YOUNG OBSERVERS 



Ho"w a Cowbird Was Hung 



In January, 191 1, I was walking by the side of a river. I happened to 

 look up into a tree, and saw something hanging to an old Oriole's nest. At first 

 I thought it was just part of the nest which hung down; but, on looking more 

 closely, I saw that it was some bird hanging down. I climbed up and cut the 

 branch, then pulled the nest toward me and cut it off near to the nest. I 

 looked at it, and saw it was a female Cowbird, which had probably gone 

 into the nest to lay an egg, and, when coming out, got a horsehair looped 

 around her neck, and thus was hung. — Eugene Gillis (aged 12). Ann Arbor, 

 Mich. 



[A great deal may be learned about the habits of birds, not only in the nesting- 

 season but afterward. 



Has any one yet discovered whether the Oriole, in suspending its woven nest, uses 

 some artifice in making entrance and exit to and from its pensile pocket particularly 

 diflScuIt? By watching the female Oriole enter and leave the nest, and by examining 

 closely every detail of the structure of the nest after it has been abandoned, one ought 

 to get a fairly correct answer to this question. Further, a comparison of different nests 

 of our common Oriole would show whether the entrance is equally large and eas^' of 

 approach in all cases. 



Who will send in observations on this point? — A. H. \\'.] 



FROM ADULT OBSERVERS 



Some Experiences with a Bird Nursery 



The two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks shown in the photograph were given to 

 us by a neighbor, last June, — the one on the right, a male, on the sixteenth, 

 and the other, a female, two days later. We named them Hansel and Gretel, 

 and reared them until they were able to care for themselves. When first 

 found, neither could have been long out of the nest. 



It was a day or two before Gretel, the younger, could balance herself on 

 a perch, and for about the same length of time she had to be fed, largely with 

 milk from a fountain-pen filler, as she generally refused to open her mouth 

 for food. She would give a plaintive, hungry cry e^•ery little while; but neither 

 coaxing movements of the food-laden twxezers, nor encouraging chirps, 

 seemed to have the necessary moral leverage on the stubby little bill. At last. 



