26 ■ BULLETIN 2 



welcome for sometimes they are birds that I do not often 

 have an opportunity to observe at close range. My list of 

 boarders, includingtransients, numbers more than 25 species 

 and each season adds new names to the list. Sometimes a 

 fox sparrow or the beautiful white crowned will favor me 

 with its company for a week or two. Last spring a 

 meadowlark found its way to my table during a late snow- 

 storm. It only stayed one day, but a flock of rusty black- 

 birds were so well pleased with the board that they re- 

 mained for more than a week and their monotonous song 

 which reminded me of a rusty weather vane was heard 

 from morning till night. 



I had another new boarder last spring, the phoebe, a 

 bird which I never expected to see at my table. I have 

 often felt so sorry for the phoebe during a cold spell in 

 early spring, but the poor things always seemed either 

 hopelessly stupid or else incapable of departing in the 

 slightest degree from the tradition of their ancestors, so 

 that I had long since given up trying to do anything for 

 them, but last spring an enterprising phoebe actually dis- 

 covered my bird table and its method of feeding was 

 quite characteristic and to me very interesting. Ir took its 

 position on a fence post and proceeded exactly as if it 

 were capturing an insect, taking the food on the wing and 

 always returning to the same post to eat it. After a time 

 I did see, it light on the board and take a few bites, but it 

 worked almost as awkardly and out of place as a wood- 

 pecker in the same position. 



A WARBLER GUEST. 



(An Abstract.) 

 EMILY L. AND SUSAN E. CLARK. 



We have found the yellow warblers unusually plenti- 

 ful this past season, arriving on the fourteenth of May. 

 About nine o'cock on the morning of the twentieth one of 

 them was discovered on a low bush beside our doorstep, 

 perched very near the ground. It was so unusual to see 

 a warbler in such a position and keeping so quiet that we 

 watched it for some time, fearing it might be hurt, and 

 noticed that it panted or breathed heavily. Finally it went 

 on the ground and hopped about, so we endeavored to 

 catch it for fear of prowling cats. While it trotted along 

 just ahead of us it would not allow iself to be caught. 



