M onthly B ulletin 3 



A curious thing happened yesterday. Some of my bird boxes in 

 pine trees seemed too deeply shaded so I had half a dozen taken down. 

 They were placed on the piazza. Two hours afterwards I looked inside 

 of them and found in a No. 4 Berlepsch box four eggs and a screech owl. 

 I though she was dead, as she lay on her side and showed no signs of 

 life when I touched her. But I suspected her, and hung the box again. 

 This morning she was gone. She acted every bit like an opossum and 

 showed no fear, as she was being rolled about in moving the box. 



We fortunately have two other boxes occupied by a pair of screech 

 owls, which have apparently mated. 



G. F. Brown, NeedJuun. 



GOOD WORK FOR BIRDS. 



The following very interesting tale of one bird's experience in the 

 bird hospital of Miss Mary E. Coburn, a Springfield school teacher, is 

 taken from the Records of Walks and Talks with Nature, conducted by 

 the eminent field naturalist, Mr. C. J. Maynard, of West Newton, Mass. 

 Last September we found a nestling red-eyed vireo in the street. His 

 leg was broken at the ankle joint and he was so tiny. We set the leg and 

 the little fellow was very tenacious and cheerful. From the first he was 

 a great favorite and kept us all busy catching crickets and hoppers for 

 his appetite was a long one. We fed him blueberries, rum cherries, pears, 

 and grapes, together with insects. All insect food was taken in his foot 

 and held and eaten from there while he sang his little whee ee. He visited 

 each child several times daily generally chatting a little. We never caged 

 him and he never flew away, although there were many chances to do so, 

 with 40 children passing in and out. We canned elder berries, rum cher- 

 ries, blueberries, and pears for our birds and dug earth worms which 

 we kept in the cellar and fed milk and coffee grounds. 



On their Christmas tree the children put some beef steak for vireo, 

 this he liked slightly broiled. 



The friendship between this mite and the children was beautiful to 

 see. If we had not let him attend school each day he would have died of 

 homesickness. He pined during our vacation and seemed so happy to see 

 them when school began once more. Some children dried crickets and 

 soaked them in warm water for red-eye. He liked them much. I car- 

 ried him home to the Reed place every night. He wanted to come to the 

 table every time Miss Ingraham and I ate. We let him sit in a fern and 

 if nothing seemed to be coming his way he would throw dirt in my plate 

 until I fed him. If visitors came to the school he generally flew to meet 

 them. Fire Chief Daggett came to lecture on his department and red- 

 eye picked his brass buttons and even tried to get gold from the chief's 

 teeth. 



Several times he has been nearly under foot as he would run on the 

 floor under the seats in play. Last Monday on one of his jolly little 

 trips he was stepped on and was gone in an instant. Since then we have kept 

 a good grip on ourselves, but each child feels the loss keenly. Vireo did 



