Bird -Lore 



Then the Starlings came back to the 

 cathedral towers, where they remained 

 until about December 20. The following 

 week, a set of chimes was installed in one 

 of the towers, and necessarily all openings 

 had to be screened, and, to make the work 

 more effective and satisfactory to every- 

 body, both towers were treated alike, 

 thus depriving the Starlings of their 

 usual winter home. The daily papers 

 have taken considerable interest in the 

 new chimes, and also in the Starlings 

 made homeless by them. One paper 

 remarked that the spiritual welfare of the 

 Starlings was being neglected at St. 

 Joseph's, and that they were likely to 

 become Episcopalians, although that 

 church was not opening a mission for 

 them. Whereas the bells are in and the 

 Starlings are out, they seem quite reluc- 

 tant to frequent a church without a bishop, 

 because only now and then one out of the 

 thousands there goes over to the spire 

 of the Congregational Church a short dis- 

 tance away. Many of the birds may be 

 seen at dusk clinging vainly to any pro- 

 jection on the cathedral towers which 

 offers a foothold, but most of them have 

 decided that a change was imperative, 

 have acted accordingly, and may now be 

 found in small flocks wherever a spire or 

 tower of any sort offers protection. — 

 Geo. T. Griswold, Hartford, Conn. 



A Belated Parula 



On November 27, 1914, we were in our 

 garden when a small bird came into our 

 quince tree. We expected that it would 

 prove to be a Golden-crowned Kinglet; 

 but it was a Blue Yellow-backed or 

 Parula Warbler! It paid no attention to 

 us, but searched intently for food, coming 

 into the branches nearest to us, where 

 we could almost have put our hands on it. 

 Our glasses were in the house, but the 

 bird was so near that we did not need 

 them. 



We could see all the characteristic 

 markings — the slaty blue back, with its 

 dull yellow patch, the sharply defined, 

 white wing-bars, the yellow throat and 



breast with its brick-red bar. There was 

 no possibility of mistake. 



It has almost the interest of a dis- 

 covery to find a bird lingering here a full 

 month after the records show he should 

 have left the neighborhood of New York 

 City. — Grace H. L. DeWitt, New 

 London, Conn. 



A Massachusetts Mockingbird 



Watertown, Mass., received a winter 

 visit from a Mockingbird. He was first 

 discovered on November 29, 1914. The 

 writer and a friend out for a bird- walk, 

 had stopped to look at a Yellow Palm 

 Warbler. The finding of the one dis- 

 closed the presence of the other, sitting 

 calmly by, low in a tree. 



Not then, however, were we certain as 

 to his identit3\ To my companion he re- 

 sembled an immature Shrike, and I found 

 that no less an authority than Ralph 

 Hoffman said, "An observer must guard 

 carefully against taking a Shrike for a 

 Mockingbird." But on December 3, I 

 again found him in the same yard, almost 

 in the same tree. He showed his resent- 

 ment at my intrusion by a loud, very 

 harsh alarm-note, j'et, seemingl}' una- 

 fraid, he allowed me to look him over at 

 my leisure, and with my powerful glass 

 I saw clearly every distinguishing mark. 



Convinced that I had found a Mock- 

 ingbird, I spread the news to other 

 students, and on December 4, he was 

 identified by one who had become familiar 

 with him through observations taken 

 the previous spring, in the same neigh- 

 borhood. 



On December 2%, 1914, and on January 

 2, 1915, he was again seen. Between 

 December 4 and December 28 some 

 accident befell his tail. When he was seen 

 on the latter date, all the long feathers 

 were gone except the white ones, on the 

 right side, and those were in a disheveled 

 condition. But if he had been attacked, 

 he still showed the same friendly spirit. 

 Those watching him, saw him eat cedar 

 berries then fly to the gutter of a nearby 

 house, where he quenched his thirst by 

 repeated drinks. Several English Spar- 



