180 General Notes. 



A letter In the writer of the above to a friend continues the history as 

 follows : — 



'•I have postponed my visit to for a few days; and for a 



reason which perhaps no one but an ornithologist would lie likely to ap- 

 preciate. 1 am detained by a Robin, and though its visits are paid at a 

 neighbor's window, still I am fascinated. Its first three days' vi-it is de- 

 scribed as accurately as my mother tongue would enable me to do in the 

 enclosed paragraph published in our dady of yesterday, it still persists. 

 The shade was left up last night, and when I awoke this morning, soon 

 after daybreak, it was knocking loudly at the chosen window. Our home 

 is quite near, and when my window, which is nearly opposite, is open, 1 

 In, ii' it very plainly. It eontinued with but slight interruptions until about 

 eight o'clock, when the lady of the house opened the window. It then 

 (lew down, but even now it is hopping about in the grass near by as though 

 watching tor the window to (dost;. I have never made ornithology a study, 

 but this seems to me a very uncommon proceeding. If you know any 

 ornithologist to whom you think it would be interesting, please impart. *' 

 Later information states that the same proceedings continued until the 

 writer of the above left town, — nine days in all ; but that on the ninth 

 day the tappings were more feeble, and were not continued later than 

 7 a. M., after which time the bird was not seen that day. 



A- these sheets are passing through the press, a male Yellow Warbler 



( Dendrozca cesliva) is behaving in a quite similar manner at my own house. 

 For several weeks the bird has been in the habit of frequently visiting a 

 grape-vine trellis in front of a window of the dining-room, from which he 

 has been accustomed to sing, wholly undisturbed by the people or the- 

 proceedings within the room. Although the trellis has been a favorite 

 resorl for the bird, his behavior was not especially noteworthy till dune 7, 

 when he began to persistently fly against the window-panes, often striking 

 them with considerable violence. 



The trellis stands about eighteen inches from the window, and the 

 portion immediately in trout of it is nearly bare, and consists of two hori- 

 zontal bar.-, about three leet apart. These form his perch, from which he 

 usually makes his dive at the window. Immediately in front of the win- 

 dow is an open field with a group of live large apple-trees, all within 

 twenty to fifty feet of the house. These, with the trellis and portions of 

 the grape-vine it supports are vividly mirrored in the window, a- well as 

 the general landscape, and of course the bird himself whenever he visits 

 the trellis. Bui his own reflection does not seem to 1»- the point of 

 attraction, as he usually strikes the pane two or three feet above the point 

 Opposite his perch, but sometimes dives down from the upper liar of the 

 trellis to the lower pane8 of the window. Occasionally he (lies directly 



from the apple-trees against the window, bul generally firsl alights on the 



! arfi of the trellis. For several days his visits have begun with earl\ day- 

 break, and have been continued throughout the day till after sunset, he 



