134 Bird - Lore 



dumped il over the edge of the nest in just the same manner that a sitting 

 hen will pull eggs around with her beak. The other Cowbird's egg was put into 

 a Kingbird's nest, the nest being so deep that I thought it would be impos- 

 sible for the birds to get the egg out over the edge. Both birds set up an 

 uproar when they saw the strange egg in the nest, but they did not seem to 

 know what to do. Next day, however, the broken remains of the Cowbird's 

 egg were found beneath the tree, and an inspection of the nest seemed to 

 indicate that the birds had made a hole in the side of the nest large enough to 

 shove out the offending egg, and then afterward repaired the hole. 



One day we saw a Sparrow building a nest in a wild rose-bush along the 

 road. A female Cowbird was slyly looking on from some bushes near by. 

 Next day the nest was completed, and contained a Cowbird's egg and a Spar- 

 row's egg. A third chapter to this story was added three weeks later, when 

 we came by and found two Sparrows feeding a large young Blackbird that 

 was just learning to fly. 



On one stroll, we found two old Killdeers with two half-grown young. 

 The young were very swift of foot, and were run down after quite a chase. 

 One of them ran into a creek and, to our surprise was perfectly at home in 

 the water. It floated like a cork and, after it had paddled its way across, we 

 took up the chase on the other side. The two young were finally coaxed to 

 sit still on the hand, for inspection, while the old birds came within fifty feet 

 of us and pretended to be badly wounded, standing on their heads in a curious 

 manner and spreading out their wings. On our releasing the little ones, they 

 all made for a swamp. 



On Decoration Day my twelve boys and one older boy started at 4 a.m., 

 in a spring wagon, for a day's outing at Greenville Falls, which is a 

 fine resort for fishing, boating, swimming, and bird-study. On the way, we 

 stopped to listen to a solo from a Black bird with a white back, which sat on 

 a telegraph wire at the roadside, pouring forth a melody that resembled a 

 chime of bells. The bird was identified immediately as a Bobolink. The boys 

 noticed a plainer-looking bird along the fence, with yellowish stripes, and I 

 told them that if it flew away with the soloist it must be its mate. The pre- 

 diction proved correct. The Bobolink is rather rare in this locality. On this 

 trip we found a Phoebe's nest by a bridge, and also several Orchard Oriole's 

 nests, made entirely out of green grass. The black cape of these Orioles 

 seemed to extend far down their neck and there was more chestnut than yel- 

 low in their plumage. They gave a note that sounded like "Keeler, Cooler, 

 Cooler," which seemed to distinguish them from the Baltimore Oriole. We 

 observed some grayish-looking Swallows entering a small opening in the side 

 of a limestone cliff. The hole was so small and so dark that we could not see 

 anything inside. What kind of Swallows were they? 



We also tried to stalk a bird that said "pe-er-e-er-e-er-r-r-rl," all in one 

 tone of voice ending in a rolling trill, sometimes with the ascending accent on 



