158 



Bird- Lore 



ment in selecting locations, and then to 

 her full contentment and sense of satis- 

 faction arising from her daily experience of 

 living undisturbed and not being inter- 

 fered with in any way. 



Her mate, as may be supposed, gave us 

 much song early and late and between- 

 whiles. His night perch was just across 

 the road where is a wooded hillside. One 

 evening in early July, when I was record- 

 ing the order of the evensong of all the 

 bird voices within reach of me, this mate 

 sang his final song at 7.50, and a very 

 pretty little response came from the 

 mother on her nest in the woodbine, just 

 a few softly given notes expressing 'good 

 night,' and there was silence. — Horace 

 W. Wright, Boston, Mass. 



Notes on Robins' Nests 



For three summers now we have been 

 visited by Robins which are very poor nest- 

 builders. I imagine it is the same pair 

 each year which has not improved in their 

 method, and realize, perhaps, that Fate, 



FLICKER AT NEST IN 1111. LUjN> CAGE 



in the guise of my father, will take care of 

 them. The first summer, a hard wind- 

 storm during the night loosened the badly 

 constructed nest, built in an apple tree, and 

 the four little birds fell to the ground. 

 The distress of the parent birds attracted 

 my father. The baby birds were apparently 

 dead, but finding one showed signs of 

 life, he carried them all into the house, 

 wrapped them in flannel (only one had a 

 few feathers appearing) and put them on 

 the hearth of the kitchen stove. Then he 

 went out and patched up their nest, 

 finally tying it with a piece of black silk, 

 the old birds all the time regarding the 

 affair with great interest. The little birds, 

 when thoroughly warm, revived and were 

 returned to the nest, and three lived to 

 grow up. 



The next year the Robins built on a 

 board which I had nailed under the eaves, 

 and the nest, when the young were half- 

 grown, being most inadequate and shaky- 

 looking, another board was nailed under 

 the first, making the shelf wider. This 

 summer the Robins built over a little 

 water-pipe, and, again, when the 

 young birds looked in imminent 

 danger of falling, an under board, 

 with low rail-effect in front, was 

 put up for protection. If the old 

 birds noticed while it was being 

 erected, no outcry was made, and 

 while the little front board almost 

 hid the nest, the male Robin, with- 

 out an instant's hesitation, on 

 perceiving the change, flew up and 

 fed the young birds as before. — 

 Elizabeth Lawrence Marshall, 

 Jamestown, R. I. 



A Sanctuary within a Sanctuary 



Although the entire 169 acres 

 of the National Zoological Park 

 at Washington, D. C, constitutes 

 a carefully preserved sanctuary 

 for native wild birds, some sum- 

 mer visitants this past season, 

 apparently not satisfied with 

 the protection afltorded by the 

 Park authorities, found added 



