THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 



The number of new members registered during 

 the montli of August was 229, bringing the grand 

 total of registered members up to 47,644 at the close 

 of the month. The increase of the month is due to 

 the following sources: 



New York So Ohio... 3 



Massachusetts C3 Colorado 2 



Pennsylvania 3 Dist. Columbia i 



New Jersey 7 Delaware S 



Vermont 7 Maryland g 



Connecticut 11 North Carolina i 



Michigan 4 Florida 4 



Minnesot 7 Kentucky 11 



Illinois 4 Japan i 



Missouri 6 



C. F. Amery, General .Secretary. 



229 



NOTES FROM PENNSYLVANIA. 



Editcr Audubon Jllagazine: 



I send you these few notes which I have jotted 

 down from time to time. The first day of haying 

 (in July) Willie brought in a tiny bird. It was 

 found where the mowing machine had passed, and 

 it was supposed the nest was destroyed. No trace, 

 however, of that or the parent birds could be found. 

 We could not tell what kind of a bird it was, al- 

 though nearly feathered. The upright tail suggested 

 a wren, but we hardly thought it one. The poor 

 little waif cried continuously. Finally, after several 

 attempts, we succeeded in getting it to take a little 

 bread and milk from the point of a wooden tooth- 

 pick. It then became quiet and was put in a small 

 covered wicker basket. Toward evening it tucked 

 its tiny head under its mite of a wing like any old 

 bird and seemed quite comfortable. The basket 

 was hung out of the reach of cats and we heard no 

 more from him. The next morning he was very 

 weak, would eat no more, and died before noon. 

 This was probably all for the best, although we were 

 glad to do all we could for it. 



In another part of the meadow, after the machine 

 and horse-rake had both passed, my husband found 

 a meadow lark's nest. It was about the size of a 

 robin's, although much more neat and trim. It was 

 close to the ground and must have been low enough 

 for the cutter bar of the mowing machine to pass 

 over it. The teeth, too, of the rake must have 

 passed closely on either side; yet it was entirely un- 

 harmed. Although tipped a little on one side, not 

 one of the six dainty eggs were spilled out. They 

 were the size of a robin's, white speckled with brown. 

 Contrary to our' expectations, the mother bird did 



not desert her nest, although the teams were obliged 

 to pass quite near in going to and coming from an- 

 other meadow, several times a day. My husband 

 placed a stake in the ground near, so no one would 

 disturb it. Only part of the eggs hatched and 

 soon after the young birds were fledged they all flew 

 away. 



The kingbirds in the pear tree were all able to fly 

 about the tree the second day after they began to 

 climb out on the edge of the nest. They then left 

 the pear tree entirely, and although we often saw 

 them all (the old birds and four young) on smaller 

 trees quite close to the house, they never returned to 

 the nest that we could find. A week or two after in 

 a hard shower the limb with the nest was broken off 

 and thrown to the ground. We were all glad that 

 the birds were safely out of it. 



Lucy Lyman Peek. 



A DUCK IN A CHIMNEY. 



Sherbrooke, Que. — One day last June the house- 

 hold of one of our city residents were astonished at 

 what they supposed was the unusual amount of noise 

 made by swallows in one of the chimneys. As it 

 continued at intervals for three days, the lady of the 

 house investigated the chimney-opening in the cellar 

 and thence extracted a live wild duck. Knowing I 

 would be interested, she sent it to me. Its primaries 

 were badly broken, but otherwise it was uninjured, 

 as when I set it free on the river a mile or so from 

 town, it= had no difficulty in getting out of the way 

 of a farmer's dog that had followed me unnoticed 

 from the road. How did it get there? Down the 

 chimney, of course. But what induced it to make 

 such a mistake? I did not recognize the species, 

 but it was not a wood-duck, or it would not have 

 been so surprising. Is there any other kind that 

 nests in trees and which might have made the mis- 

 take of thinking the chimney was a tree. — Jos. G. 

 IValton, in Forest and Streant. 



During the spring of this year we learn from re- 

 liable authority that in the one small town of Myers, 

 Florida, the sales of white egret plumes amounted 

 to |i4,ooo. The birds are not wholly exterminated 

 but the old haunts are almost wholly deserted. 



The general relaxation of Audubon work during 

 the hottest months of the year as indicated by our 

 registration list, leave it to be inferred that the 

 higher moral sentiments do not flourish with the 

 thermometer over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. 



