Notes from Field and Study 



179 



with several cuniparlments. The com- 

 partment should not be less than 9 by 1 1 

 inches or, better still, larger. The opening 

 should be on a level with the floor, not less 

 than 2^/i inches in diameter and a pin 

 ^2 inch wide by 3 inches long for a foot- 

 rest, I have tried all manner of openings 

 and porches for foot-rests, and find that 

 when the openings are made as described 

 above the number of young that fall out 

 of their boxes is almost nil; while, on the 

 other hand, in boxes with openings an 

 inch or more above the floor almost in- 

 variably some would fall out. The same 

 applies to wide foot-rests, or porches; the 

 young will venture out of the box too soon^ 

 as they cannot see the danger. To repeat: 

 the opening should be on a level with the 

 floor, and not less than 2% inches in 

 diameter. It all depends on the opening. — 

 Dr. Ferdinand Schreiman, Concordia, 

 Mo. 



Notes on the Shrike and the Chickadee 



While reading the December number of 

 Bird-Lore, I thought of a Shrike, and a 

 Chickadee experience of mine that might 

 be of interest to others. On November i, 

 191 2, I heard very harsh, loud calls from 

 a tall treetop, that sounded very unbird- 

 like. I saw a bird about the size of a 

 Robin that had light underparts, large 

 gray head, long dark tail that flipped up 

 and down a few times, and the part of the 

 wing that I could see was dark. He had 

 an alert manner, and he sang a low warble, 

 and once called so like a Catbird that for 

 one confused instant I thought it must be 

 one. Then he made more harsh calls, the 

 like of which I had never heard, and from 

 a distance came other unfamiliar sounds, 

 also harsh, but unlike the first. 



As I watched, another bird of nearly 

 the same size came and fiercely attacked 

 the first. As he approached him, the 

 attacking bird took an upright position, 

 so that I saw that his wings were black 

 and white spotted. His tail was also 

 widely spread. The first bird yielded, but 

 did not leave the tree. The other began 

 hunting on the branches, Woodpecker- 

 fashion, and I knew it was a Hairy Wood- 



pecker, though I nc\'er heard such sounds 

 from one before, .\fter a while, the other 

 one flew swiftly off, and dropped beyond 

 a house where English Sparrows congre- 

 gate. In a moment, back he came, closely 

 pursuing a small bird that made frightened 

 cries. The small bird dodged at right 

 angles into a tree, and I think the other 

 went on, as I lost him then. I did not see 

 this bird at close range, and I did not know 

 that a Shrike sang in the fall, -but what 

 else could it be? 



Mr. Forbush's allusion to an injured 

 Chickadee reminded me of two sad ex- 

 periences that we had in the spring of 

 191 2. We noticed that one of our piazza 

 Chickadees had only two feathers in his 

 tail, and that he seemed afraid of us, and 

 of the other Chickadees, but after a while 

 he became a little less shy, and on March 

 22, I saw that a new tail of short feathers 

 was budding. In a few days more, he 

 would try for several minutes to get up 

 his courage to come to me, but failed. 

 By the 26th, he would fly almost to my 

 hand, and then turn away. Then he 

 would stand and look at me for a minute, 

 and try again; but no, he dared not! So 

 I gave him bits of nut as he stood on the 

 vines, and he would take them from my 

 fingers. He became braver as his tail 

 grew — and it grew fast. Very surely he 

 had been one of those that were hand- 

 tame before he lost his tail. 



On April 2, I saw that one of the Chick- 

 adees held his foot up in his feathers, and 

 was afraid of the others. He kept very 

 quiet on the vines a good deal, but occa- 

 sionally he ate at the shelf when alone. 

 He lived through a heavy snowstorm, and 

 came on the 3rd, but one of the others 

 drove him about. He would take food 

 from my hand as he stood on the vine, 

 and this and the unevenness of his tail 

 convinced me that it was unfortunate 

 little Short-tail. On the 4th I observed 

 something that angered me, but, after all, 

 I suppose it was only a part of the world- 

 old tragedy necessary to the production 

 of a strong race I had a piece of nut in 

 each hand and was carefully offering one 

 to the lame bird. He wanted it, but did 



