MISCELLANY 



41 



had evidently accomplished it in some 

 manner, and, out of respect for their won- 

 derful achievement, they were allowed to 

 remain in the home to regain which they 

 had suffered so much. 



The San Francisco Examiner records 

 that "Sadie Jones, C. 21,392," is the 

 champion long-distance homing pigeon of 

 America, and'' the world, so far as is 

 known. She flew from Lake Charles,' 

 Louisiana, to Philadelphia, a distance of 

 1,202 12-100 miles in 16 days and 3 hours. 

 Sadie Jones is the propert> of M. S. Sul- 

 livan, of West Philadelphia, and was five 

 years of age at the time of making the 

 record. She was named after the daugh- 

 ter of the National Race Secretary, 

 Charles H. Jones, and was personally 

 countermarked and shipped by that young 

 lady, together with five others. She was 

 the only one to return. So far as known 

 no other pigeon has ever flown this dis- 

 tance. 



When the writer was many years 



younger, to please the rising generation 

 he made a dove cote and procured a few- 

 tame pigeons. In the course of time the 

 birds had increased by not only rearing 

 young, but by inducing strange birds to 

 accept the quarters offered. The pigeons 

 were regularly fed, the meal hour being 

 announced by a peculiar whistle. The 

 dinner call was soon known to all the 

 birds in the place, and the yard would im- 

 mediately fill with birds from every direc- 

 tion when the whistle was blown. On 

 one occasion a lame bird in the flock, 

 which had evidently been caught in a 

 snare and escaped with a slip noose on 

 one leg that had cut into the flesh, making 

 the poor bird very lame, came with the 

 rest. 



After considerable pains the bird was 

 caught, the string cut, and the bird placed 

 on the ground. It stood a moment as if 

 amazed, and then flew up to its liberator's 

 knee and fed out of his hand. 



THE TWO-STORIED NEST. 



ETHEL MORTON. 



Looking from my study window, one 

 day, last June, I noticed a little yellow and 

 brown bird, who was hopping from bush 

 to bush. She was busily chattering to an- 

 other bird, who sat on a neighboring tree, 

 evidently much enjoying a worm he was 

 eating. I knew the pair, directly, as my 

 friends of the season before, — the Yellow 

 vVarblers. 



Mrs. Warbler was looking for a good 

 place to build her nest. After some con- 

 sideration, she decided on a bush in front 

 of my window. Off she flew to a field 

 of dandelions, and soon returned with 

 several pieces of dandelion fluff. It took 

 quite a while to complete the house, for 

 Mrs. W. was very neat and precise in her 

 work, but after it was finished, Mr. Warb- 

 ler came over to look at it (he had left 

 the building to his wife!), and as he 

 seemed perfectly satisfied with it, Mrs. 

 Warbler was happy. 



Not many days after this, some pretty 

 little blue eggs lay snugly in the nest, and 

 Mrs. Warbler was a mother ! Alas ! On 

 the dav the voung Warblers left their 



shells, their mother came home from a 

 call on Mrs. Robin, to find her children 

 crying most bitterly. An ugly Cowbird 

 had dropped its great, brown, spotted tgg 

 right in their beautiful parlor ! (It seems 

 to be a custom with these birds, to leave 

 their eggs in the nests of their unfortu- 

 nate neighbors, rather than hatch them 

 themselves.) 



Poor, little Mrs. Warbler! She tried 

 with all her strength to push the tgg out 

 of her home, but without success. So, 

 what do you suppose she did ? Why, she 

 just built another nest on top of the old 

 one I It was a great deal of trouble, and 

 the young Warblers tried her patience 

 sorely, by persisting in pulling at the 

 tnreads "and straws, as she wove the 

 frame-work of her new dwelling. "Labor 

 is its own reward,"' however, for there 

 was not a happier couple in all bird land 

 than Mr. and Mrs. Yellow Warbler, when 

 they brought their admiring friends and 

 relations, to see the young Warblers, in 

 the two-storied nest. 



