86 



Bird- Lore 



the dooryard for seeds and bread crumbs, 

 which are put out for the birds each day. 

 He keeps very close to the house, practi- 

 cally the entire time, living in some very 

 thick clumps of spruce trees not far away. 

 He has gradually become very tame, so 

 that he will come to within some few feet 

 of the people who are feeding him. On 

 the coldest mornings, when the thermom- 

 eter has registered in the vicinity of zero, 

 his disposition has been of the most cheer- 

 ful, seeming to mind the cold not in the 

 least, and jumping about very actively, 

 even coming to the window and calling for 

 the food if it has not been put out in time 

 for him. 



There arc a number of Myrtle Warblers, 

 a few Song Sparrows and Chickadees 

 nearby, which occasionally alight in the 

 trees which he seems to consider as his 

 especial property. This, apparently, trou- 

 bles him not a little, and he usually 

 drives the intruders away, after watching 

 them for a minute or two. 



I thought this item might be of interest 

 to you, as in the course of twenty years of 

 bird study in this vicinity I have never had 

 fortune to meet with the Cardinal before. 

 — Frank A. Brown, Beverly, Mass. 



The Carolina Wren in Massachusetts 



I wish to report the appearance of a 

 Carolina Wren in West Ro.xbury, Mass., 

 near Boston, on November 8, 1908. The 

 bird was seen on and about a wood-ijile, 

 and its rufous back and white superciliary 

 line were very conspicuous. — J. I. Cod- 

 man, West Roxbury, Mass. 



The Color of Male Purple Martins 



The male of the Purple Martin is 

 described as a shining blue-black in color. 

 Thirty years ago this was the case. At 

 this time about (me out of every seven 

 males is black, and the remaining si.x are 

 hard to distinguish from the females, 



Last year I built houses for eight pairs, 

 and they were all occupied. Seven of the 

 males were gray and one was black. 

 Hundreds of them arc here in the sum- 



mer, perched on the wires, and it can be 

 seen that about seven or eight per cent of 

 them are black. 



Thirty years ago there were no English 

 Sparrows in this vicinity. Can it be 

 possible that the annoying Sparrows have 

 prevented Martins from reaching matur- 

 ity? — J. F. PoAGE, Kirksville, Mo. 



Tin Cans as Homes for Bluebirds 



Having been told by an old farmer 

 that Bluebirds would readily nest in tin 

 cans placed upon poles, I decided to try 

 the plan. So, early in the spring of 1906, 

 I procured sixteen large tomato cans, and 

 nailed them crosswise upon the tops of 

 poles about twelve or fifteen feet long, and 

 placed them around a two-acre lot. As 

 the field was then being plowed, the Blue- 

 birds (which were very abundant) were 

 always flying around to get the worms 

 which the plow turned up. 



The third nKjrning after pulling uj) the 

 cans, I noticed some straw in one of them, 

 and, later on in the day, I found that a 

 pair of Bluebirds had begun a nest. The 

 next day two more of the cans were oc- 

 cupied, — one by Bluebirds and the other 

 by English Sparrows. So numerous were 

 the Bluebirds that at the end of ten days 

 the remaining thirteen cans were taken 

 by ihem, making fifteen Bluebirds' nests 

 and one English Sparrow's nest in the 

 sixteen tomato cans. — .\ngus McKinnon, 

 />e Funiak .S[)riuf^s, Florida. 



A Martin Colony 



I am sending a snap-shot of a colony of 

 Purple Marlins which I took last May. 

 This colony of Marlins started from one 

 pair, three years ago, and the second year 

 had grown to three pairs. Last year there 

 were nine pairs, the six -compartment 

 cote shown in the picture being full, be- 

 sides another three-compartment cote. 



The Marlins arrived on .\pril 15, 1908, 

 which was the earliest I have ever seen 

 them in this section. They usually reach 

 here about May. The cote was situated 

 on a fiflcen-fool pole, which made it a 



