Notes from Field and Study 



247 



They seem to take no interest in the cater- 

 pillars in the tents but only after they have 

 spun their cocoons. — M. I. Compton, Seallle, 

 Wash. 



Goldfinches Nest in Thistles 



On August 8, 19 1 5, while walking in a 

 pasture containing many large thistles, I 

 noticed a Goldfinch fly into one of these 

 thistles, and later found it was building a 



A Song Sparrow Family 



Sometimes in our quests for birds of gayer 

 plumes and rarer species, we pass by the 

 more apparently familiar and the more di- 

 rectly useful ones. It was on one of these 

 quests that the author of this article was 

 stopped by a small boy, who knew of the 

 location of a bird's nest from which the 

 mother bird walked as if she were 'lame'. 



A SONG SPARROW FAMILY 



nest in it. On August 22, there were five eggs 

 in this nest and the bird was sitting. On this 

 day I found three more nests in this same 

 pasture, all in thistles; one nest had 6 eggs, 

 one had 4, and one had 2. On September 5, 

 all four nests had young birds. 



We had been having some very severe 

 rainstorms just previous to this last date, 

 and one of the thistles had fallen over, but 

 the birds were still in the nest, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the nest was tipped very 

 much. On September 12, all but two of the 

 nests were empty and I discovered young 

 birds nearby which were able to fly and were 

 being fed by the old birds. 



In 1916, I expected to find them again 

 nesting in thistles and found at least six nests 

 of these birds in this same pasture, but they 

 were all in trees. — Clarence H. Bush, 

 PeKalb, Ills, 



Accordingly, a trip was made to the nest, 

 and, true to nature, the bird left the nest 

 very cautiously and with both wings close 

 to the ground. The nest proved to be that of 

 a Song Sparrow. It was built on the ground 

 near a small willow tree which was only about 

 16 inches high. The leaves of the willow 

 afforded ample shade from the rays of the 

 sun. There were three birds and two eggs 

 in the nest. 



This discovery accounted for the author's 

 hearing for several mornings previous to the 

 finding of the nest, the notes of a Song 

 Sparrow, which was most invariably perched 

 either on a fence-post or on the telephone 

 wire. And so, morning after morning, and 

 evening after evening, there continued the 

 same outpouring of song from a happy bird. 



About a week later, another visit was made 

 to the nest, and five well-developed birds 



