10 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



During the day there were observed nesting here eighteen pairs of birds, 

 representing the following eleven species: robin, Baltimore oriole, house 

 wren, least flycatcher, phoebe, tree swallow, barn swallow, catbird, flicker, 

 downy woodpecker and solitary vireo. Several interesting things were ob- 

 served in regard to these. In the afternoon it was noted that a robin's nest in 

 a low cedar by the steps of Dr. Field's residence had been robbed of its 

 two eggs. From a little distance these birds were seen excitedly flying 

 about and calling, and although no intruder was seen disturbing the nest, 

 the miscreant was probably either a snake or a blue jay — the circum- 

 stances seeming to point more to the former than to the latter. 



A robin's nest in a low spruce tree near the farmhouse contained 

 four eggs (two of these being hatched when later inspected, on the 

 20th). In the same tree are four old nests, showing in all probability 

 that this tree has been used as a nesting site by the same pair of robins 

 for five seasons. In a cedar but a few yards away was another robin's 

 nest containing two young, apparently several days old. 



The house wren was found nesting in an isolated bird-box ten feet up 

 on a pole, near the little pond by the road. This box (a Lee bluebird 

 house) has an inch-and-a-half entrance-hole and is seven inches deep. 

 It was said to have been occupied by tree swallows during the past sea- 

 son. It was filled to the opening with small twigs and other nesting ma- 

 terial, in the top of which was a nice little hollow lined with strips of 

 grapevine bark, horsehair and hen feathers. (When examined on the 

 20th this nest contained two eggs.) There were several other unoccupied 

 boxes about, seemingly more fitted as to size for the nesting of the house 

 wren than the one chosen by this bird. 



Within a few yards of the wren's nest a least flycatcher was observed 

 building her little home twenty feet up in the crotch of a small elm tree, 

 and not fifty yards away was another nest of the same species on a maple 

 branch overhanging the street, and about the same height. 



Two orioles' nests were noted in elm trees along the roadside, about 

 thirty yards apart, in both instances the birds being at work upon them. 



Three bird-boxes were found occupied by the white-bellied or "tree," 

 swallows. Each of these was selected from a tier of three boxes of diff^er- 

 ing types nailed to a twelve-foot pole, and in each instance the same type 

 of box was chosen — a square box, 4x4x7, with an inch-and-a-half 

 entrance hole, (Ware bluebird house.) In one case the box chosen was 

 the middle one, and in the other two instances, the lower on in the tier 

 of three. (When inspected on the 20th, one of these nests contained 

 six eggs, the female being on the nest; another contained five eggs, and 

 the last one, two.) These nests were all typical, being of dried grass, 

 lined with hen feathers, the birds seeming to prefer white feathers for 

 this purpose. 



