34 BULLETIN 2 



yard. As they flew with it directly across the Missisquoi 

 River, the nest they were building could not be found. The 

 next year they came again and were easily traced in build- 

 ing time to an apple tree in which, four or five feet from the 

 ground, they had built a nest. It was a bulky affair, alto- 

 gether larger than they needed, I thought, though they 

 seemed to regard it otherwise. As the first egg was laid 

 a wicked old cat sprang upon the sitting bird who escaped 

 fortunately, but the nest was brought to the ground and 

 torn in the struggle. The birds were watched carefully 

 but did not rebuild to my knowledge. Though- these ele- 

 gant sparrows are with us in large numbers for two or 

 three weeks every spring, there has been no evidence since 

 then of their nesting here. So far as I know, the instances 

 given above are the second record of white crowned spar- 

 rows nesting in Vermont. A single bird of this species 

 found upon Mt. Mansfield in July, 1906, might easily be 

 taken for circumstantial evidence in the same direction. 



While at Shanty Point. Lake Champlain, last July, I 

 was amazed at the number of red headed woodpeckers that 

 were everywhere present. Two or three were often seen 

 at one time upon a single tree near the cottage and their 

 loud call-notes were constant and emphatic. As this bird 

 is called "rare" in Vermont its abundance here was more 

 noticeable. I saw over a hundred of these beautiful birds 

 during the week that I was there. Red bellied nuthatches, 

 too, were common, with Nashville warblers, swamp spar- 

 rows, and water thrushes, while the bald eagle came sev- 

 eral times daily to his perch upon a dead tree near the 

 shore. Once it flew away over the lake with a calf's leg 

 which it took from a barnyard. Early every morning the 

 eagle was at "The Point" feeding upon dead fish cast upon 

 the lake shore. This pair of birds were said to be reg- 

 ular occupants of one of the islands where they had bred 

 for many years. 



The strenuous winter just past furnished a happy com- 

 pensation in the close companionship of birds, once lured 

 within speaking distance, soon became intimate friends of 

 the household. This was brought about early in the sea- 

 son by fastening a wooden box to my window sill, in 

 which English walnuts, crumbs, and suet were an adver- 

 tisement of meals at all hours, a free lunch counter that was 

 Well patronized. Chickadees and nuthatches were first to 

 note its kindly possibilities, then a pair of blue jays joined 

 the circle to which downy woodpeckers shortly sent in an 



