"g Q " I General Notes. 2D I 



material added to the nest, I supposed it was abandoned, and neglected to 

 give it more attention. My surprise can be well imagined when on April 

 6 I saw both parents at the nest, and a good foundation for the nest laid. 

 The first part of March was warm, the temperature rising at one time 

 to 91 F. in the shade. Later in the mouth seven inches of rain fell, with 

 much cloudy and some freezing weather. Twice the temperature fell to 

 25 and the leaves were killed. Up to date, April 6, it has not risen to So" 

 in this month. 



That temperature may affect the time of nesting seems almost proven 

 in this case, and yet a set of Crow's eggs taken April 2 was so far 

 advanced in incubation that it was difficult to extract the embryo. A set 

 of Plumbeous Chickadee's (Paries carolincnsis agilis) eggs of same date 

 were in advanced incubation; but as these birds build in holes and line 

 with fur, they are well able to endure a6ixty-six degree chauge of tempera- 

 ture. Will some one tell us what is the accepted opinion of oologist 

 concerning temperature affecting nidification ? — G. H. Ragsdale, 

 Gainesville, Texas. 



Change of Habits in our Native Birds. — It would be as interesting, 

 from an evolutionary point of view, to note any change in the habits of 

 an animal, any change in the way it adjusted itself to its environment, as 

 to note the change in its bodily form or structure. It seems to me that 

 such a change is taking place with the English Sparrow. A dozen or 

 more years ago when these aliens first became a feature in our fauna it 

 seemed probable that our native birds would soon be entirely driven from 

 the neighborhood of our cities and villages. Our Robins, Bluebirds, 

 Catbirds, Grossbeaks, Sparrows, Martins and the like were mobbed, 

 driven from their food and nests and generally taught to believe, with 

 Charles Sumner, that "life is a serious business." In this section, at 

 any rate, a change has gradually taken place. Either our native birds 

 have unexpectedly developed powers of resistance at first unsuspected 

 or the pugnacity of the English Sparrows has diminished, for certainly 

 our own songsters have not been driven away but on the contrary seem 

 as numerous as they were twenty years ago. For the past two or three 

 years, since my attention was first called to the matter, I have seen but 

 little if any persecution of our native birds by the foreign Sparrows; on 

 the contrary, our own birds are now often the aggressors, and if they do 

 not indulge in persecution themselves, are adepts at defence. Very com- 

 monly a Jay, Robin, or Catbird will from pure mischief hustle a flock of 

 Sparrows into desperate flight. In and about Rockford, 111., a place of 

 30,000 inhabitants, the native birds have not been so numerous in twenty 

 years as in the two or three years just passed. The conditions of the 

 adjustment between the Sparrows and our commoner birds have changed 

 to some extent, it seems. As has been noted before, the abundance of the 

 Sparrows may serve to explain the increase in the numbers of the smaller 

 birds of prey, — with us notably the Screech Owl. — F. H. Kimcoll, 

 Rockford, III. 



