3o8 Bird -Lore 



while the young males acquire the color pattern of the adult males in their second j'ear, it 

 is not until later that the brilliancy of their seniors' plumage is attained, a point we may 

 all like to verify for ourselves. Other things that we may discover if we try, are the 

 order of migration, the songs and call-notes and the variety of food of the Baltimore 

 Oriole family. (Family is used here in the ordinary sense, and not technically.) 



Do the males and females come together mated, or do the males arrive first? Does 

 the female ever sing? What call-notes do the female and the young make? Where do 

 the Orioles find nesting-material? Does the male assist the female in building the 

 nest? 



It may be of interest to look up a bit of history with reference to Lord Baltimore 

 the elder, whose name was George Calvert. What part of the new world did he first 

 visit? From whom did Arundel County, in Maryland, take its name? — A. H. W.] 



THE BLUEBIRD 



I am a member of the Illinois Audubon Society, so I thought I would 

 write a story of the Bluebird. The Bluebird has blue on his back and tail, and 

 rufous red on his breast. One day, as I was walking down the road with my 

 natural science teacher, she asked me if I would like to see a Bluebird's nest. 

 I said I would, for I had never seen one before, so we walked down the road 

 till we came to a post on one side of the road. My teacher said: "Do you 

 see that hole in the post? Look in there and you will see a nest with four 

 little eggs in it." Every time I went by there the mother bird was near the nest. 



One day, a short time after I had first seen the nest, she asked me if I did 

 not want to come with her and take a picture of the mother bird going into the 

 nest. When we were near the nest, we saw the mother bird near the post 

 where her nest was, but, as soon as she saw us, she flew away. We looked into 

 the nest and there were four little Bluebirds in it, so we sat down about eight 

 feet from the nest when, all at once, we saw the male coming with a worm in 

 its mouth. The parents would come to the post next to the one the nest was 

 in, and sit there and wait, then a wagon would come along and frighten them 

 away. We sat there about half an hour, but the birds would not come, so 

 we went away. About a week afterward I came, and the birds were gone. 



Beginning April of this year, I have classified the following birds: Junco, 

 Song Sparrow, Crow, Blackbird, Robin, Bluebird, Mallard Duck, Redheaded 

 Woodpecker, Red-winged Blackbird, Meadowlark, Cowbird, Flicker, Fox 

 Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Palm Warbler, White- 

 throated Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (female), Golden-crowned Kinglet 

 (female). Swamp Sparrow, Phoebe, Oriole (Baltimore), Black and White 

 Creeping Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Yellow Warbler, 

 Virginia Rail, Marsh Hawk, Kingbird, American Bittern, Indigo Bunt- 

 ing, Catbird, Black Tern, Orchard Oriole, Sora Rail, BoboUnk, Ovenbird, 

 Bronzed Crackle, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Black-billed Cuckoo, Gold- 

 finch, Chewink, and Purple Martin. — Albert Gottner (Grade 5, age 12). 

 Allendale Farm, Lake Villa, III., June, 1914. 



