Notes from Field and Study 



387 



the part of man. The gray squirrel was not 

 made the tamed creature in our city parks 

 by nature. Someone had to bring up 

 squirrels in captivity and teach them that 

 man could be a friend. Gradually the 

 descendants of these tamed squirrels in- 

 creased until they are almost a nuisance 

 in many places. If this wary quadruped 

 can be thus handled by kindness, there 

 seems to be no reason why the Wood 

 Thrush could not be made a common 

 dweller in all our villages, and even cities, 

 at least the wooded portion of the same. 

 It would be worth while to try the experi- 

 ment widely over the country, and bring 

 back a wealth of bird song and feathered 

 beauty to grace every park and wooded 

 street in all the land. The Thrush would 

 not come into competition with the do- 

 mestic (English) Sparrow as to nesting- 

 places or food, and the plan seems alto- 

 gether practicable. 



The Marietta situation makes clear the 

 local instinct of the Thrush, which returns 

 year after year to the old haunts. Though 

 the migration in the autumn months takes 

 the bird far away, he seems to know that 

 he has human friends to whom he is con- 

 strained to return. 



It may be there is a body of experience 

 along this line of quasi-domesticating the 

 Thrush, and that your magazine will be 

 willing to collect the same and tell us how 

 the thing can be brought about. The 

 writer, now living in a New England 

 borough, proposes to secure and bring up 

 a nest of Wood Thrushes and undertake 

 to make them so tame that they will re- 

 turn in the spring, and gradually fill the 

 streets and parks and private grounds 

 with this lovely singer. — Hexry Wood- 

 ward HuLBERT, Groton, Conn. 



[.\lthough gray squirrels are introduced 

 artificially, they also appear naturally and 

 become semi-domesticated in places where 

 they are protected and where a proper 

 supply of food is assured. Wood Thrushes, 

 if they inhabit the surrounding region, 

 may also be expected to appear in any 

 town when there is sufficient growth to 

 produce an environment such as this 



species requires, and when it is given 

 adequate protection. It will find its own 

 food. We do not think that an attempt to 

 introduce this Thrush artificially would 

 meet mth success. — Ed.] 



The Placing of Bluebird Boxes 



After fifteen years of experimenting in 

 locating Bluebird nesting-boxes so that 

 squirrels, cats, and English Sparrows will 

 not molest the occupants, the following 

 plan has been adopted, and is so successful 

 that we believe other lovers of birds will be 

 glad to know of it. Select two outside 

 branches of a tree, the larger one 

 about seven feet from the ground and two 

 or three feet above the other branch and 

 extending farther out from the trunk. 

 From it suspend the box by two barbed 

 wires until it hangs in the midst of the 

 foliage of the lower branch, but not where 

 the branches or twigs are large enough to 

 support a squirrel. The hole into the box 

 however, must be in full view, or the Blue- 

 birds will not select it. Sparrows never 

 build in such a place, and squirrels and 

 cats cannot easily get at it, hence the Blue- 

 birds can live a fairly peaceful life. The 

 boxes should be located early in the spring 

 before the birds arrive. — -Emma L. Shutts, 

 Whitewater, Wis. 



Notes from Bethel, Vermont 



The winter of 1914-15 seemed almost 

 birdless here, but this summer, as an offset, 

 many Juncos have lingered in our valley 

 until way into June, and a dead young 

 one was found in our garden today; while 

 another, just like him, was feeding and 

 calling about the yard. In summer, Juncos 

 are usually to be found on our hilltops, 

 but not in the valley. 



But the greatest surprise is the presence 

 of White-throated Sparrows here to this 

 date. It is the first time I ever heard them 

 through the warm seasons. They are not 

 on the hilltops, but on rather high lands. — 

 Eliza F. Miller, Bethel, Vermont, July 

 27, 1915- 



