.'>98 /'r()c<(<rni(/s of hidUiiia Aradciiij/ of Science. 



spring was always liaikMl with delislit and tlieir going in tlie fall was always 

 regarded as portending the coming of snow and sleet and storm. 



Like the robin, a few Itluebirds might remain quite late in the fall in 

 seasonable years, sometimes even thronghont the winter. 



Every field on a tyi)ical Indiana farm in those days had scores of stniups 

 OH evei\v acre. Many of these stumps were hollow. The hole was usually 

 (iidy a few inches in diameter and 10 to ?>0 inches deep. These holes were 

 apparently regarded by the bluebirds as ideal nesting sites, if we judge 

 from the frequency with which they were occupied for that purpose. 



There was an 18-acre field which was, for several years following that 

 in which it was cleared for cultivation, remarkably well supplied with 

 stumps. The author of the.se notes has very good reason for remembering 

 these stumps, as he had to dig around evcr\ one of them; and how often 

 have his ribs been bruised and his sidi's made to ache by blows from the 

 plow handles as the i»low struck the roots whicli were far-reaching and 

 ever in the way ! He was admonished to plow close and to dig the dirt 

 up loose becau.s(> the "best corn grows closest to the stump"! This, how- 

 ever, did not iireveiit the work from iieing about the hardest the small boy 

 could find on the farm. P>ut there was one compensating pleasure, — the 

 finding of a bluebird's nest now and then in these hollow stumps. Just 

 how many were found memf)ry does not now safely fix. but it must have 

 been more than a score in this one Yield every year. Usually a second brood 

 would be reared, a new stump being frequently selected for the second nest. 



Next to hollow stumps, deserted woodpecker holes in dead trees were 

 oftenest used. Sometimes the hole w'ould be in a stump, sometimes in a 

 stake or post of the fence. Bird boxes put up about the house were sure to 

 be used, especially before the advent of the pestiferous English sparrow. 

 We have found bluebirds' nests in holes in elm, oaks of several species, 

 maple, poplar, cottonwood, beech, walnut, buckeye, ash. w'ild cherry, hick- 

 oi'y, sycamore, butternut, willow, apple, pear, and doubtless in others ; also 

 fence stakes, posts and r.iils. and in various bird houses put up about the 

 habitations of man. 



Definite records for CarrnU Couniy are as follows: 



February 20. ISTS. seen : October 25. noted at Camden. February 6-S, 

 INTO, three or fciur seen: 2.")th, common about Camden; March 5, saw 40 to 

 .10 males: C.th, saw two or three females, first of season. May 22. 1883. 

 Yern Keck found a nest with six eggs. February 12. 1884. first of the season 

 seen and heard; 22d. noted as common since 13tli ; March 7. noted : April 

 10. seen building ; 25th. Matthew Sterling took a set of eggs near Camden ; 

 May 5. took a set of five fresh white eggs from a box we had put up in our 

 yard in Camden ; 18th. another set of five, also pure white, from same birds, 

 but in another box which we had provided ; June 3. a third set of five, also 

 white, in the first box and by the same pair of birds. March 7, 1885, first of 

 season : 10th and 11th, quite common : April 22, five fresh eggs in box in our 

 garden in Camden; first nest of the season. June 25-July 1. 1905. several 

 liairs seen on the old home farm. Ava Evermann noted the Bluebird at 

 Burlington INIarch 24. 1007. when one was seen, and again on October 28. 

 when one was observed in an open woods, :ind on March 3. 1020. at Kokomo 

 \vh(>rc she had ii'»t noted ;iny since Thanksgiving of 1010. 



