3o6 



General Note;:. \ ^"-"^ 



LJuly 



rewarded bv finding it May ii, 1902. Tlie nest was in a dead stub 

 growing up from the side of a red oak. and was twenty-four feet from the 

 ground. The opening measured 2 X 2^ inches and it was 5 inches from 

 the outer edge of the hole to the back wall. It went straight down for 

 I id inches, and the four eggs were resting on some fine chips. 



About twelve inches below the entrance to the nest was a smaller hole. 

 This had been commenced by the birds, but was abandoned, as they had 

 run into a hard knot after digging in about li inches. The eggs were 

 deposited just back of the lower hole, and there was only about one fourth 

 of an inch of wood between them and the abandoned opening. The 

 eggs, which are now in the collection of Mr. F. C. Kirkwood, were about 

 ready to hatch. 



The Red-bellied Woodpecker can now be called a resident species for 

 Maryland, as I have data for every month in the year. 



The only authentic record I have of their breeding in the State other 

 than mine is a note of Mr. L. D. Willis, who saw old birds feeding young 

 near Church Creek, Dorchester County, May 5, 1897. He says the nest 

 was about 60 feet up, in the dead top of a red oak. — William H. Fisher, 

 Baltimore^ Aid. 



A Much Mated House Sparrow. — In the spring of 1895 I placed a 

 small box with a movable top in a tree near a window of my room in 

 order to try a few experiments with the prolific English Sparrow {Pas.<:er 

 domesticus) and made the following observations in 1897. During the 

 coldest days and nights of the winter the box was not inhabited, but 

 during warm spells it was occupied by three sparrows, a male and two 

 females. On February 26 I first saw them carry straw to the box to repair 

 the old nest. The male had driven away one of the females and had con- 

 siderable trouble to keep her away. 



I have noticed that where House Sparrows live in a box they take much 

 time in constructing their nest, which is often not completed until some 

 time after the eggs are laid, while those that build in trees build the 

 whole nest in a day or two. 



On March 15 the birds were still building. On March 19 I saw them 

 copulate ; also on March 23, and again on March 25. Then I shot the 

 female while the male was only two feet away from her; he not hearing 

 any noise, could not make out what ailed her, but it did not take him long 

 to collect his thoughts, for he darted down and was on the ground before 

 the female touched it. As she struck the ground she bounded in the air 

 about a foot, which frightened him. He approached to within a foot of 

 her and fluttered around her. She never even moved her wings after I 

 shot her. My dog picked up the dead bird but I made him drop it by 

 calling to him, but the male did not go back to her. Ten minutes after 

 the male was courting another female ; he seemed to know his mate was 

 dead and wanted another immediately. On dissecting the dead bird I 

 found the ovaries all small and the bird was apparently an old one. 



