NOTES 



Our list of birds has fallen short of last year, being only 

 seventy-six as against ninety-four the preceding year. But we 

 have had some interesting experiences. We saw five baby blue- 

 birds huddled together in a tight little row on a branch, being 

 fed by the old birds. We watched them so long that the 

 parents began to feel alarmed and stayed away so long that 

 common humanity prompted us to leave. At another time 

 we actually saw a performance which I had read about with 

 a slight tendency toward incredulity — interchange of polite 

 attentions between two adult cedar birds. They were extraor- 

 dinarily beautiful specimens and not more than twenty feet 

 away from where I stood with a good glass, and not even 

 a leaf in the way. The rapidity of their motions was mar- 

 velous. Number one picked a berry from his side of the 

 tree and put it in his comrade's bill, and instantly number two 

 hopped a step or two to pick a berry from his side of the 

 tree and returned the compliment, followed at once by number 

 one repeating the act. They kept up the exchange of 

 courtesies for what seemed a long time, probably eight or 

 ten minutes. June IG we saw a pair of white-throated spar- 

 rows, apparently intending to nest. They made a great fuss 

 whenever we came near a certain small tree, but otherwise 

 were very tame and friendly. After a few days they dis- 

 appeared, but in another place we heard one July 4. March 

 29 we heard for the first time the song of the northern 

 shrike. We thought at first that it was a catbird, but when 

 we located the singer at the top of a tall tree there was no 

 doubt of his identity. January 8, 1911, one evening grosbeak 

 came into the tree by my window, where we saw them two 

 years ago. It stayed there more than half an hour, and we 

 had a splendid view of it through a large telescope. The 

 bird was very quiet, sitting for a long time preening his 

 feathers and then making only a slight move to get a bit of 

 food.— Mr.y. C. J\ H. Coaii, Rutland. 



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