350 



Bird -Lore 



the other was a grating click. The call of 

 the young was a teasing note, uttered 

 whenever the old birds came near the hole. 



Once I waited five minutes, but the 

 bird refused to enter the hole; however, 

 when I concealed mj^self behind a rock, 

 it did so immediately. 



When flying low, the birds came straight 

 to the nest; but when flying high, they 

 circled a few times before alighting. 



Every time the food was identified (and 

 this was probably three-fourths of the 

 time) it consisted of insects. After 

 alighting on the tree the bird would hop 

 two or three inches at a time, sometimes 

 fly a foot or two, until it reached a distance 

 of two feet from the nest; whereupon, it 

 flew straight into the hole. When making 

 exit, it flew straight away from the hole. 



Song Sparrow. — A Song Sparrow's 

 nest, of which I made a study, was situ- 

 ated about twenty feet from a house, in a 

 four- foot Retinispora sqiiarrosa. The nest 

 was composed of coarse grass, lined exten- 

 sively with horsehair. The dates of hatch- 

 ing and leaving nest were: May i8, 4 eggs; 

 May 23, 3 eggs, i young; May 24, 2 eggs, 

 2 young; June 2, 2 eggs, 2 young; June 3, 

 2 eggs, 2 young out of nest. 



The young, soon after hatching, have 

 a rufous-brown skin sparsely covered by 

 thin gray down. When one day old, the 

 skin becomes lighter than when hatched; 



and on auriculars and around eyes, is 

 slate. The body is more thickly covered 

 with down than when hatched. The bill 

 is creamy buff, and the inside of the mouth 

 ochroceous-buff. 



During the time of incubation, and the 

 period when the young were in the nest, 

 only one adult was seen; but after the 

 young left the nest both birds were seen 

 near. The call notes of the adults, when 

 I approached the young, were a low click, 

 like the Chipping Sparrow's and also the 

 Song Sparrow's usual call-note. 



For two weeks after leaving the nest, the 

 young could be found in a clump of bushes, 

 not twenty feet away. On the day of 

 departure from the nest, I found the young 

 in the nesting tree. As I approached, one 

 fluttered to the ground. 



Though the adults became excited 

 when I got too near the young, yet, when 

 I retreated about twenty feet, they would 

 fly up to the top of a tree and sing. — John 

 Dryden Kuser, BernardsviUe, N. J. 



An Unusual Nest-Site 



On June 15, 1912, some small boys 

 reported that they had found the nest of 

 a strange bird along the tracks of the 

 Chicago and Alton Railroad, south of the 

 village, and guided me to the place. I 

 found it to be the nest of a Killdecr, and 



A KILLDEER'S NEST BETWEEN RAILROAD TRACKS 



