General Notes. 181 



rarely leaving the window for more than a few minutes at a time. He 

 sings almost constantly. I have seen him strike the window-panes as 

 many as ten times in a minute, barely pausing on the trellis between 

 each plunge long enough to utter with much energy his shrill little song. 

 These proceedings he will sometimes repeat for several minutes, then fly 

 to the trees and return again a minute or two later, usually with a canker- 

 worm in his beak obtained from the apple-trees. This he usually bruises 

 on the trellis-bar and swallows at once before diving at the window, but 

 not unfrequently makes several plunges at the window with the worm in 

 his beak. ^ He strikes the window-pane with such force that the clicking 

 of his bill and feet against the glass may be heard to a considerable dis- 

 tance. He usually strikes the large pane a foot or two from the top, 

 fluttering upward to the top, when he returns to his perch. The upper 

 panes receive the chief part of his attention, but lie not unfrequently 

 descends to the lower ones, which he follows upward in the same manner 

 to the top of the lower sash. He takes little notice of people standing 

 quietly before the window, and will often strike the pane within six 

 inches of the observer's face. 



If the upper sash be lowered a few inches he will often, after flying 

 against the glass, perch on the top of the open window, peer into the room, 

 utter his song, hop to the trellis, and immediately repeat the operation. T 

 once drew the upper sash half-way down, so as to give him free access to 

 the room. At first he would strike the glass as usual, and then perch on 

 the sash. I left the room for an hour, and on returning found him a 

 prisoner between the sashes, he having evidently in the mean time entered 

 the room, and in trying to make his exit had fluttered down between the 

 sashes, where he had obviously been struggling for some minutes. I freed 

 him, and presumed that this experience would serve to cure him of his 

 strange infatuation for the window. This was on the evening of the first 

 day, but he returned early the next morning to the window, flying against 

 it with unabated persistency. This has continued for three days, and 

 the window seems to have lost none of its charm for him. 



In other respects he seems a perfectly sane bird ; he has a mate and a 

 nest in one of the neighboring apple-trees, and when it is approached he 

 leaves the window and flies about the intruder with manifestations of ex- 

 treme solicitude. He is also quite vigilant in driving away other small 

 birds that venture, too near his home. Whether he m'stakes his own 

 reflection in the window for a rival, or what the charm is, is not obvious, 

 as his behavior in all other respects is apparently entirely natural. As al- 

 ready stated, he almost invariably strikes the window-pane at a point 

 either considerably above or below his perch on the trellis, so that evi- 

 dently he does not aim at his own reflection in the window. — J. A. 

 Allen, Cambridge, Mass. 



P. S. — His visits to the window became less frequent on the fourth day, 

 but were continued with considerable frequency for about ten or twelve 



