3o6 



Bird - Lore 



insects, l)ut also could be seen with a glass 

 when a bird alighted on her shelf. Secondly 

 those birds returning with a bill full of 

 two or three of the smaller species flew 

 direct to their young and crammed the 

 insects into the expectant mouths; while 

 those carrying a single large one always 

 dropped it when within fifty feet of the 

 house, and then swooped down and 

 caught it again before it had fallen ten 

 feet. I assume this was done to secure the 

 correct hold necessary to start it dow'n the 

 throat of the young head first, for I could 

 not discover that it had anything to do 

 with the 'broken necks.' — E. A. Doo- 

 LITTLE, Paiiicsvillc, 0. 



An Old Squaw Joker 



On Sunday, November 4, 191 7, I was 

 looking about the lake for what I might 

 see in the line of water birds, and during 

 the course of my hunt visited a flood pond 

 on the beach. This pond, a hundred feet 

 or so from the edge of the lake, was about 

 150 feet long by 25 feet wide and not over 

 a foot deep anywhere. A small boy and a 

 dog were at the edge of the water, and, 

 seeing me wdth the bird-glass, said, "There 

 was a Canvasback Duck here just now!" 

 I told him I should have liked to have seen 

 it, and he replied, "Oh, he'll come back — 

 here he comes now," and sure enough a 

 large Duck was seen swiftly approaching 

 from over the lake and soon plunged down 

 in the shallow pond. Not a Canvasback, 

 however, but an adult male Old Squaw in 

 winter plumage. "Sic him," said the boy, 

 and away went the dog on a mad run 

 through the shallow water, the Duck 

 waiting till the dog was nearly upon him 

 before taking wing and flying far out over 

 the lake, only to circle at last and come back 

 to the pond. This w-as kept up all the time 

 I remained in the vicinity, and the boy 

 told me he had been at the same game a 

 long time before I arrived. The pond 

 contained no fish, nor much else in the 

 way of food, although I did note some large 

 'polly-wogs' there in August. There may 

 have been an attraction there dear to an 

 Old Squaw, but not apparent from a 



human \iew[)()iiit ; still I like to believe 

 the Duck was enjoying the sport as well 

 as the dog and boy. Otherwise, I cannot 

 understand why, with all of quiet Lake 

 Krie before it in which to fish and feed, 

 this Duck (wiiich should have been made 

 wary by the open shooting season) took 

 such long chances. Yet he had lived long 

 enough to put on adult dress, with 

 elongated tail feathers. — E. A. Doolittle 

 Paiiicsvillc, O. 



Breeding of the Myrtle Warbler 

 at Webster, Mass. 



Perhaps the most interesting event of 

 my field-work during the season just 

 closed is the finding of the nest of the 

 Myrtle Warbler on May 17, 1919, at 

 Webster, Mass. 



I saw the female Myrtle Warbler carry- 

 ing nesting material into a group of white 

 pines that stood on the edge of a pine grove 

 of two or three acres. This grove adjoined 

 an open pasture. After considerable 

 search I located the nest 40 feet up in a 

 good-sized white pine. It was near the 

 top of the tree. On May 29, my friend, 

 E. H. Forbush, and myself climbed this 

 nest-tree and found two eggs in the nest. 

 The female Myrtle Warbler sat on her 

 eggs and did not fly until the nest-limb 

 was jarred. She remained close by in 

 this foliage, as did the male, during the 

 time we were in the tree. 



The nest was out 10 feet on the limb 

 and was snugly set in a semi-vertical 

 crotch. It was built of rootlets, straws, 

 etc., and was thickly lined with hens' 

 feathers. The eggs were speckled, chiefly 

 at the large end, and had a background 

 of grayish white. The nest was deeply 

 cupped and its edge all around was built 

 to overhang the interior slightly. 



This nesting of D. coroiiata (a bird of 

 the Canadian fauna) in southern Worcester 

 County, Mass., on the Connecticut state 

 line, in transition country is of interest. 

 (In a nearby laurel swamp a Hooded 

 Warbler was in full song!) It should also 

 be added that while the Myrtle Warbler 

 has long been known to be a summer resi- 



