THE OOLOGIST 27(/) )\%\O 49 
ed a Lark from a nest containing four 
slightly incubated eggs. This was 
about eight miles Northwest of town. 
This nest was built much like the first 
nest, being at the base of a short tuft 
of grass. 
March 29, 1909 I found a nest near 
the top of the same ridge as three 
young were found April 4, 1907. It 
contained three young birds’ well 
grown. 
All of the nests which I have found 
were in high ridges, and in most cases, 
were found by watching the birds go 
to the nests. SAM DICKEY. 
————- ~> 
An English Sparrow Tragedy. 
It is well known that the Bronzed 
Grackle occasionally varies his diet 
by the addition of eggs and nestlings, 
to the bill of fare, but I had never 
heard of their attacking larger birds. 
Therefore the following incident which 
came under my _ observation last 
Spring, was somewhat of a surprise. 
Several of these birds spend the sum- 
mer in the Boston Public Gardens and 
may be seen walking about upon the 
lawn. 
While passing through the garden 
May 29th I noticed several English 
Sparrows on the ground under a tree. 
Among them was a young bird well 
grown and practically fully feathered. 
He was, in fact, as large as any of 
the adults, but showed his age by his 
constant crying for food accompanied 
by a fluttering of the wings. Just at 
this moment a Grackle flew down be- 
side this group. He caught the young 
sparrow roughly by the neck, bit 
sharply two or three times, then drop- 
ped it to the ground and hammered it 
fierceiy on the head. 
By this time he was besieged by a 
screaming mob of adult Sparrows. 
When the young bird was dead, he 
took it by the neck and flew to a near- 
by tree, It is against the rules to 
walk across the lawns and flower 
beds, so I was obliged to follow the 
paths to reach the tree where the 
Grackle had perched—a roundabout 
way which took sometime. 
As I drew near the tree, the Grackle 
flew out and I saw that the young bird 
had disappeared. I searched carefully 
on the lawn under the tree, without 
finding any trace of the sparrow, and 
as the Grackle was not carrying it 
when he left the tree, it seems proba- 
ble that he had eaten it entire. 
F, SEYMOUR HERSEY. 
= 5 i etd 
Finding White Throated Swifts’ Nests. 
During the latter part of March, 
1909, in the cliffs that are a mile East 
of Shandon, California, I noticed about 
a dozen of the rare White-throated 
Swifts, flying around the cliffs. They 
would dart around a while, and then 
fly into a crevice or hole in the cliff. 
These Swifts are very active and 
fly with extreme rapidity. They fly 
high; then when coming down, make 
the air “hum.” Their vocalism is 
a loud shrill twitter uttered chiefiy 
while on the wing. 
I had good luck in watching these 
graceful birds during March, April 
and May, and made some study of 
their habits in the cliffs near my 
home, but owing to the size of the 
cliffs, it was almost impossible to get 
up to some of the crevices and holes 
they made their nests in. 
But one crevice could be easily 
reached by driving in four harrow 
teeth, which I had done in March in 
pulling out an old nest. Again in May 
I went up to the crevice, and to my 
surprise when I put my hand in the 
crevice, out came the two Swifts. I 
made a search then to find the nest, 
only to find a nest about half done. I 
then watched the birds and one other 
flew into a hole about thirty feet 
above, which could be reached with a 
