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Bird - Lore 



mentioned above were feeding their young 

 white berries — the only white berries to be 

 had at present are those of the poison ivy. 



Culver's root, bergamot and early sun- 

 flowers in full bloom. Goldenrod and blazing 

 star just coming into bloom. 



July 27. A Field Sparrow's nest with young 

 about three-fourths grown. A Clay-colored 

 Sparrow's nest with two fresh eggs. 



July 2Q. First young Black Terns on the 

 wing (Kilgore). 



July 31. Young Cedar Waxwings left nest 

 today. It is curious to see the young of this 

 bird, almost as soon as they are able to 

 stand, strike the prolonged 'freezing' atti- 

 tude of the adults. 



August 4. A Song Sparrow's nest con- 

 taining four fresh eggs. Of all the Song Spar- 

 rows' nests seen this year none has been on 

 the ground. All have been from 6 to 18 

 inches up in small bushes or shrubs. 



An old Loon and her two young, almost 

 full grown, seen together in a small lake 

 where they have been since spring. Many 

 young Black Terns now a-wing. 



While watching the nest of a Goldfinch at 

 close range from a photographing tent the 

 following notes were made: 



The five young birds were about three- 

 fourths grown. 



Both male and female fed the young at 

 intervals of about half an hour. 



The young were fed a white sticky paste or 

 'pap' which was regurgitated from the gullet 

 in small amounts and given to all the nest- 

 lings in rotation several times around at each 

 visit. There was no sign of food in the bill 

 of the parent when it came to the nest. It 

 seemed probable that this 'pap' consisted 

 of the white meat of seeds mashed up after 

 the removal of the hulls. No other food was 

 brought during the several hours that the 

 nest was watched. 



On at least one occasion the female was 

 seen to take the excrement from all the five 

 nestlings and swallow it beside cleaning up 

 the inside of the nest in the same way. 



The young birds at this age ejected ex- 

 crement to some extent over the rim of the 

 nest where it was apt to lodge and render the 

 outside of the nest soiled and untidy. 



Once the male bird alighted on top of the 



tent and spent some time peeping curiously 

 down through the ventilating aperture as 

 though bent on finding out what was going 

 on inside. It seemed to us as though he was 

 after this much more wary about approaching 

 the nest, which was something less than 3 

 feet from the movie camera. He had appar- 

 ently seen too much. 



August 8. A Barn Swallow's nest con- 

 taining four eggs. A Maryland Yellowthroat 

 still singing its 'witchite' song. Blue-winged 

 Teal Ducks in flocks of twenty or more at 

 the Long Meadow sloughs. 



Ironweed and golden aster in full bloom. 



August 14. The eggs in the Song Sparrow's 

 nest mentioned on the 4th beginning to hatch 

 today. A Mourning Dove's nest containing 

 two eggs (Huff).— Thos. S. Roberts, M. D., 

 Zoological Museum, University of Minnesota, 

 Minneapolis, Minn. 



Chicago Region. — The weather has been 

 fair and warm during the past two months, 

 the temperature ranging between 65° and 

 8o°, with very little rain. The rainfall 

 during June was the lowest for fifty-two 

 years, only .14 of an inch being registered, 

 and the rain of July n ended a forty-three 

 day drought. 



The presence and early appearance of 

 numbers of shore-birds is the notable feature 

 of the recent period. On June 17 and 18 the 

 writer found a Black-bellied Plover and two 

 Red-backed Sandpipers at Beach, 111. Three 

 Turnstones and a Long-billed Curlew flew 

 by and lit a short ways up the beach where 

 they were watched for a short time at close 

 range. The Curlew was very wary, soon 

 flying north, and on following four miles up 

 the beach it could not be found, although 

 the Turnstones were seen twice. It is 

 probable that all these were non-breeding 

 birds spending the summer here. Five pairs 

 of Piping Plover were seen along as many 

 miles of lake shore and were, without doubt, 

 nesting there. Spotted Sandpipers were 

 plentiful and a nest with four eggs was found. 



Hyde Lake, near south Chicago, has been 

 the locality where the waders have been the 

 most abundant. Wilson's Snipe, Dowitcher, 

 Pectoral, Least, Semipalmated and Solitary 

 Sandpipers, Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated 



