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Bird - Lore 



feet. There were ihe four downy chicks 

 about twent}' feet from the nest. In color 

 they were black, marked with soiled white. 

 They were weak and seemed hardly able 

 to hold up their large bills. 



I examined the old nest. It was in a 

 slight depression in the ground, about 

 four inches in diameter and an inch 

 deep, and it was composed almost of 

 pine needles. The whole mass was prob- 

 ably a foot in diameter, hollowed out in 

 the middle, to form a nest about four 

 inches in diameter and an inch deep inside. 

 — Merriam G. Lewis, Lawrenceville, Va. 



Pine Grosbeaks in August 



Confirming the report of B. Franklin 

 Pepper, in the November-December num- 

 ber of Bird-Lore, the writer observed 

 the Pine Grosbeak in considerable num- 

 bers on Long Island, and at Casco Bay, 

 Maine, during the month of August, 191 1. 

 They frequented the tops of the taller tir 

 trees, and sang merrily during long periods 

 in the afternoon. On one occasion, one 

 of them sang for a long time in the early 

 morning near my hotel window. — H. H. 

 Curtis, Montreal, Canada. 



Florida Notes 



We own a home on Ridgwood Avenue, 

 in the very heart of the city of Daytona, 

 Florida. The lot has about one hundred 

 and fifty feet frontage and four hundred 

 feet depth, and contains a number 

 of large live oaks, covered with Spanish 

 moss, and palmetto, mulberry, and large 

 magnolia trees, and about one hundred 

 orange and grapefruit trees, with three 

 deep wells with running water, — thus 

 making it an ideal home for many dif- 

 ferent kinds of birds. 



The Hermit Thrush, Catbird and Robin 

 were, continually about our doorstep, and 

 the different kinds of trees and shrubs 

 attracted many varieties of birds. 



One day a friend brought a small Florida 

 Screech Owl to me alive. After examining 

 it for awhile, we let it go, and it flew into 

 a near-by mulberr\' tree. At once there 



was a commotion in the bird colon_\- on 

 the place, and we counted at least fifty 

 birds attacking or talking very loud to the 

 Owl. There were thirteen species, viz: 

 Blue Jay, Brown Thrasher, Catbird, 

 Hermit Thrush, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, 

 Carolina Wren^ Bewick's Wren, House 

 Wren, Florida Grackle, Robin, Flicker, 

 Red-bellied Woodpecker and Mockingbird. 



The gray squirrels were numerous, and 

 it was an amusement to throw them 

 peanuts, and have a Blue Jay or a Grackle 

 swoop down to the ground and get the 

 nut before the squirrel could reach it. We 

 tamed these squirrels and Blue Jays so that 

 the}' would take the nuts from our hands, 

 and it was interesting to watch their 

 steady approach in short stages to our 

 hands, to reach the coveted nut. 



Daytona was favored, in February, by 

 a visit from Professor Henry Oldys, who 

 was sent there by the U. S. government, 

 to inspect the government bird reserva- 

 tion at Mosquito Inlet, and we had the 

 pleasure of listening to one of his interest- 

 ing bird talks. 



Among other things, he said that 

 of the fifty-six United States govern- 

 ment bird preserves he knew of none that 

 had more possibilities before it than the 

 Mosquito Inlet preserve. i\s this pre- 

 serve comes up to the city lines, and as 

 the city ordinance does not permit any 

 gun-firing within the city limits, this bird 

 reservation practically extends almost to 

 Ormond. As a result, you can stand on 

 the main business street of the city oppo- 

 site the post-ofiSce, facing the Halifax 

 river, and feed the Bonaparte Gulls, Royal 

 Terns, Herring Gulls, and Scaup Ducks 

 that will come up close to you. It is strange 

 how soon these birds know they are in a 

 protected zone. Until the establishment 

 of this government preserve, such a thing 

 as a wild bird in the river, within shooting 

 distance, was a rarity, and now Pelicans 

 and many varieties of Gulls, Terns, and 

 Ducks can be seen both in the river and 

 along the ocean shore with large flocks of 

 Snipe and Herons of different kinds. I 

 counted about seventy different species of 

 birds during my stay in February. 



