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Bird -Lore 



Whenever a nest is discovered, the tree 

 trunk is loosely wound with chicken 

 netting high enough to prevent a cat from 

 jumping over it. But, with all our care, 

 many of our boarders choose to nest in 

 our neighbor's trees, where they are the 

 prey of five marauding cats. We provide, 

 however, several apartment-houses. Blue- 

 birds have occupied one for many years, 

 except when the House Wren drives them 

 away. We have often seen them drop the 

 Bluebirds' eggs from the house door, and 

 take possession; which is more than 

 English Sparrows have ever done! — 

 Cornelia Taylor Fairbanks, Saint 

 Johnsbury, Vermont. 



Jonah, The Catbird 



I was quietly reading on the porch a few 

 days ago when I became aware of a loud 

 outcry in the bushes near the house, just 

 across the road. At first I paid no atten- 

 tion, but, as the noise continued for two 

 or three minutes, I recognized easily the 

 distress-calls of a pair of adult Catbirds. 

 The calls were loud, sharp, and almost 

 human in tone. They sounded like "Help ! 

 Help! Help!" — uttered in the Catbird 

 language. 



The appeal was unmistakable. I 

 dropped my book and ran across the road 

 to the clump of bushes just behind the bar- 

 berry hedge. The Catbirds seemed to be 

 making a great fuss around something 

 on the other side of the hedge, but flew 

 away a short distance at my approach. 

 I stooped down and peered into the hedge, 

 and immediately saw the cause of the 

 trouble. A large milk snake was twined 

 around a twig overhanging a bird's nest, 

 in which I saw one fledgeling and a blue 

 egg. Part of the snake was coiled around 

 the nest. 



I grasped the serpent by the middle 

 and pulled it out of the barberry hedge. 

 On shifting my hold to its neck, however, 

 I noticed a large round swelling just behind 

 its jaws. This puzzled me at first. I 

 exerted a slight pressure with my thumb 

 and forefinger on the mysterious lump, 

 and slowly the snake opened its jaws and 



disgorged the lump in question, which 

 proved to be a newly-hatched Catbird! 

 Still holding the snake by the neck, I 

 examined its poor victim. What was my 

 surprise to find it still alive! Its head 

 moved and rolled around very feebly on 

 its absurdly slender neck, and, though 

 rather the worse for its adventure, the 

 fledgeling showed signs of surviving. Very 

 carefully I put him back in his nest and 

 christened him Jonah on the spot. As 

 for Jonah's whale, which was the wicked 

 milk snake, he was dealt with according 

 to his crime. 



The following day I visited the Catbird 

 family while Mr. and Mrs. Catbird were 

 away, and found Jonah still alive and 

 happy in the nest, with a third fledgeling 

 in the place of the blue egg. No doubt he 

 was relating his marvelous escape from 

 death to the newcomer. — Charles J. 

 Clarke, 'Fernbrook,' Lenox, Massachu- 

 setts. 



A Ruby-Throated Refugee 



A Hummingbird was picked up on the 

 streets of Granite City, 111., on Monday, 

 October 8, 1913, during a cold drizzling 

 rain that had lasted more than a week, 

 preceded by several white frosty nights. 

 It was apparently nearly chilled to death. 

 The person who gave it to me knew that I 

 had one about three years ago. It had 

 flown against a display window and broken 

 its wing, which I set with splints made 

 from a toothpick and fastened them with 

 silk thread, I kept it for nearly three 

 months by feeding it on a mixture of 

 honey and water, alternating with rock- 

 candy dissolved in distilled water. 



It died from exposure, the temperature 

 being down to 45 degrees one morning, 

 due to a broken steam-pipe. 



When I received the second bird, I held 

 it in my hands a few minutes until it 

 became warm. I tried to feed it some 

 sweetened water; at first it paid no 

 attention to it, then I put a drop of per- 

 fume on the cotton wrapped on a toothpick. 

 As soon as I did this, it seemed to notice 

 things, and ate a great deal for so small a 

 bird (it weighed only forty grains). After 



