THE OOLOOIST 



157 



complement of four eggs. An ornitho- 

 logist viewing the sights of Chicago 

 from one of the hundreds of motors 

 passing down Michigan Avenue would 

 have been well entitled to disbelieve 

 anyone who might have offered to 

 show him a Killdeer's nest a few 

 hundred yards east of our world- 

 celebrated thoroughfare. 



Among birds whose nests I can 

 easily remember to have found in the 

 immediate vicinity of what is now 

 one of the busiest "up-town" business 

 centers — Wilson Avenue and Broad- 

 way — are such species as wood thrush, 

 least flycatcher, redstart, humming- 

 bird, lark sparrow, both the cuchoos, 

 goldfinch, cedar waxwing, chat, downy 

 woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, vesper, 

 field and song sparrows — in fact most 

 of the passerine birds which may be 

 looked for in the breeding season in 

 favorable localities in north-eastern 

 Illinois. This, of course, does not 

 recount anything unusual, as, at the 

 time, the locality named held many 

 tracts of well wooded and brush cov- 

 ered land as well as field and pas- 

 tures; but the fact that in this same 

 district, less than ten years ago and 

 even in the present season we have 

 had cuckoos, yellow warblers, screech 

 owls, bronze grackles and brown 

 thrashers with us throughout the 

 spring and summer indicates how dif- 

 ficult it is to drive birds from their 

 original haunts if there is left to them 

 the posibility of food and nest cover. 

 It is the writers belief that it is much 

 harder to get them to take up resi- 

 dence in a locality which they have 

 never occupied than it is to keep 

 them in their native cover, even when 

 the encroachments of man have little 

 consideration for their needs. 



There's a base-ball park up on the 

 North Side and if I happen occasion- 

 ally to be one of the thousands as- 

 sembled to see the national pastime I 



am sure to remember that field as it 

 used to be, and for a minute, above 

 the noise of the cheering crowd, I 

 may hear the bold, challenging notes 

 of a pair of crested flycatchers, be- 

 ginning their housekeeping in an old 

 scrub oak which was cut down long 

 ago.— E. R. Ford. 



Rare Additions. 



Gerard A. Abbott advises us, "I 

 have added another Warbler nest and 

 three eggs of Belding's Yellowthroat; 

 also three other fine sets, Newfound- 

 land Grosbeak, nest and three; Bick- 

 nell's Thrush, nest and three; Clark's 

 Nutcrocker, nest and four." 



These are indeed rare additions to 

 any collection. 



Bird Protection and Cats 



I assume that all bird lovers and 

 students know that the food supply 

 of the world is really dependent upon 

 the birds; that we could not 

 exist ten years without the birds. 



We also know that there has been 

 an alarming decrease of the insect- 

 iverous birds in the past thirty years 

 or more. 



The United States government; Au- 

 dubon and other bird societies, as 

 well as many private individuals have 

 of late been active in the endeavoi' 

 to bring back bird life to our farms 

 and homes. 



One of the most serious menaces 

 to bird life is cats. 



The Government experts estimate 

 the value of a live robin at $5. a 

 year and other birds, some of them, 

 much higher. 



They also, from their inquiries 

 throughout the country, find that cats 

 kill an enormous number of birds and 

 estimate that the average cat de- 

 stroys fifty birds a year. 



Personally I can not help liking the 

 little pirates, though I never kept a 



