4 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



other prairie warbler "quarry". After the third year of this feast a 

 fire swept over this field and we were not able to locate the prairie warbler 

 colony, and evidently they did not return to adjoining quite similar 

 fields. Surely this is another case of return of birds to their former 

 haunts after a winter sojourn in the far South. 



Golden-Winged Warbler 

 Maynard was the first to collect an authenticated set of golden- 

 winged warbler eggs and nest in Massachusetts. This was in Newton- 

 ville. Within the next few years Purdie and Towne each collected one, 

 and we, two sets of golden-winged warblers, all in Newton within a mile 

 or two of Maynard 's first find, and, as I recollect, there were only two 

 or three other authenticated sets collected in Massachusetts up to about 

 1880. Who will say that this is not evidence that the then quite rare 

 golden-winged warblers returned year after year to the same locality? 



Blue Jay 

 Early in the spring, about six years ago, in crossing the foot-bridge 

 over the B. & A. R. R. to the Chestnut Hill Station, near my house, I 

 noticed two blue jays having a quite violent fight in a beech tree located 

 a few feet from the end of the bridge. This was before the tree had 

 foliage. Waiting for my train, I took the opportunity to watch the 

 fight. Presently, another blue jay came noisily flying to the tree, and 

 on his arrival one of the belligerent jays took flight. Clearly he was an 

 intruder in the family trying to steal a mate. The remaining birds then 

 proceeded to "bill and coo" like a pair of turtle doves, on a branch within 

 ten feet of where I was standing, and then, to my surprise, one of the 

 birds jumped on a partially completed nest which I had not observed 

 in a crotch of the tree. Note this nest was within ten feet of the end 

 of this foot-bridge, over which several hundred people passed daily, 

 and also within twenty feet of the spot where the locomotives of some 

 twenty passenger trains daily stop and blow off steam and smoke with 

 accompanied bell-ringing. At least twice a day I watched the birds 

 as I crossed the bridge to and from the trains. I doubt if any one else 

 observed the nest. The birds were not molested and raised their 

 young. The next year a pair of blue jays built near the top of an elm 

 tree back of and within twenty-five feet of my house and within five 

 hundred feet of the peculiar nest near the railroad. I had observed the 

 blue jays around my house that spring, but had not found the nest. 

 Early one morning a violent commotion of the jays was in progress, and 

 on investigation I found the young had left the elm-trees nest and a 

 stray cat was trying to get the young birds, while the old ones were 

 interferring with the cat. My impression is that the cat had climbed 

 the tree and the young had jumped from the nest a few days before they 

 were sufficiently matured to fly. I collected the young birds and put 

 them together in a shrub but saw nothing more of them. I suspect the 



