THE OOL/OOBST. 



147 



in trees. Robins liave been known to 

 builJ on tlie ground and under sheds. 

 Tliere is individuality in birds, as in 

 men. They adapt themselves to condi- 

 tions. One hummingbird composed a 

 nest entirely of cotton, being provid- 

 ed with this comodity by a human 

 triend. English sparrows, when the 

 population crowds them from dwell- 

 ings, build a straw ball, with a hole 

 in the side, in the tops of trees. In 

 California a quail is recorded as hav- 

 ing built a nest in a tree. There are 

 geniuses among birds as among men; 

 and the freaks of nature mean that 

 either conditions, force birds to act in 

 new strange ways or that by voluntary 

 choice they progress and improve 

 their surroundings. 



*The Ruby-throat, as far as the ob- 

 server's experience goes, builds its 

 nest under a protecting leaf, which 

 acts as a roof in time of rain. He 

 has observed fourteen nests, in each 

 one of which, the protecting leaf 

 seems to have been the determining 

 factor in the choice of nesting sites. 

 Quite a number of these have been 

 observed since writing the above ar- 

 ticle in 1907. 



ARTHER BRIDWELL, 



Baldwin, Kansas. 



From Crawfordville, Indiana. 



Dec. 27, 1908— Saw Tufted Titmouse, 

 Kingfisher, Slate-colored Junco. 



Dec. 29, 1908— Cardinal, pair. 

 Jan. 4, 1909 — Downey Woodpecker. 



Jan. 18, 1909 — Cardinal, feeding on 

 dried grapes in vines, six inches o£ 

 snow. 



January 19, 1909 — First Robin of 

 season. 



April 5, 1909 — Screech Owl, nest in 

 hole in Beech tree fifteen feet from 

 ground, in College grounds. Five eggs. 

 This I watched until the young had 

 left the nest. The last time I saw 

 them, all five were sitting side by 



side on an iron railing around a cel- 

 lar stairway one evening. 



April 18, 1909— Red-bellied Wood- 

 pecker. 



May 20, 1909— Hairy Woodpecker, 

 nest in willow stub eight feet from 

 ground; three eggs. Green Heron, 

 two nests; one in elm twenty-five feet 

 from ground; platform of sticks, two 

 eggs; fresh. The other nest was in 

 a thorny locust fifteen feet from 

 ground, large nest of sticks, six eggs, 

 nearly ready to hatch. 



American Redstart, nest in elm 

 sapling, six feet from ground; one egg. 



Aug. 17, 1909— Was on the creek, 

 saw a man hauling gravel. He said 

 "See that big buzzard on that dead 

 sycamore; it has been around here all 

 week." I looked and it proved to be 

 a Bald Eagle. I never saw it after, 

 although went over the same ground 

 for several days afterward. 



August 27, 1909— While out fishing 

 saw a Great Blue Heron. First I 

 have seen here since 1905, when I saw 

 a pair. 



On Monday, August 30th, my Broth- 

 er-in-law found a bird of this species 

 with one wing shot and mangled. It 

 was in a hay field. As I could not 

 mount it, we turned it loose in the 

 woods along the creek. 



W. C. Parks, 

 Crawfordville, Ind. 



HAWKS. 



Altho, among naturalists, it is general- 

 ally supposed that,looking from a scie 

 tific stand-point, the larger hawks do 

 comparatively little harm to the poul- 

 try-raiser, and which from my own 

 experience, I think. Is the proper way 

 to look at it, since these birds destroy 

 so many destructive rodents, that if 

 left to multiply, would be much more 

 harmful than the hawks. Yet from my 

 own knowledge, I knew that the Broad- 



