MISCELLANY 



41 



had evidently accomplished it in some younger, to please the rising generation 

 manner, and, out of respect for their won- he made a dove cote and procured a few 

 derful achievement, they were allowed to tame pigeons. In the course of time the 

 remain in the home to regain which they birds had increased by not only rearing 

 had suffered so much. young, but by inducing strange birds to 



The San Francisco Examiner records accept the quarters offered. The pigeons 

 that "Sadie Jones, C. 2i,^g2," 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 property of M. S. Sul 

 livan, of West Philadelphia, and was five 



years of age at the time of making the snare and escaped with a slip noose on 

 record. She was named after the daugh- one leg that had cut into the flesh, making 

 ter of the National Race Secretary, the poor bird very lame, came with the 

 Charles H. Jones, and was personally rest. 



countermarked and shipped by that young After considerable pains the bird was 

 lady, together with five others. She was caught, the string cut, and the bird placed 

 the only one to return. So far as known on the ground. It stood a moment as if 

 no other pigeon has ever flown this dis- amazed, and then flew up to its liberator's 

 tance. knee and fed out of his hand. 



When the writer was many years 



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 



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 

 Warblers. 



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 day the young 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 egg 

 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 egg 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 ! 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 

 ts 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. 



