18 BIRDS 



tions and are now too preoccupied to devote much time to 

 courtship, so we see less of the female. The males may be 

 seen or heard regularly for the next two to four weeks. 



Birds such as the prairie horned lark, killdeer, song spar- 

 row, phcebe, bluebird, and robin are preparing to rear a 

 second brood. Two weeks ago their first nests were occupied 

 with eggs that hatched before many of our summer residents 

 had returned from the South. If we venture into the mead- 

 ows, through the orchards, or to the woodlands, many fledge- 

 lings are encountered. The parents are uneasy at our pres- 

 ence, and manifest their displeasure by showing little fear 

 in their efforts to protect their offspring. The flycatchers, 

 vireos, and thrushes are now sitting upon their eggs. These 

 birds usually rear but one brood during a season. 



The marshes are gradually drying up, and the few hol- 

 lows which still contain water are attractive places for rails, 

 herons, and bitterns. 



In July the goldfinches act as vivacious as most birds do 

 in May. Thistle down, now floating in the air, is used as a 

 lining for their nests, while they largely subsist on the thistle 

 seeds. By the middle of July our graceful swallows have 

 completed household duties and are congregating along the 

 marshes and lakesides. Flocks of tree and bank swallows 

 often mingle and move over the marshy sloughs, alighting 

 at sundown on the telephone and telegraph wires. Few 

 birds sing during the heat of the day except indigo bunt- 

 ings, towhees, dickcissels, field sparrows, song sparrows, and 

 robins. These birds are more domestic and prolific than 

 swallows, and the duties of rearing a second family will con- 

 sume the entire month. 



