﻿Notes From Field and Study 



67 



and trimmed with a little knot of white 

 lace and two white quills. A truly wonder- 

 ful nest! For what purpose were the badges 

 and lace and feathers so carefully arranged 

 if not for mere decoration? Surely those two 

 Robins must have possessed thought and 

 taste to build such a home as this! 



And yet there are many good people who 

 declare that birds do not think at all — that 

 they act and live merely by instinct ! — Kath- 

 arine S. Parsons, Secretary, Albany, N . Y. 



[While the builders of the nest here fig- 

 ured assuredly employed unusual material, 

 we cannot but fear that our correspondent 

 has attributed to these Robins her own stan- 

 dard of beauty. — Ed.] 



Bird Notes from a Florida Porch 



It was the writer's good fortune to spend 

 the greater part of the month of March, 

 1904, at a cottage in Gulf Hammock, Levy 

 county, Florida. When not off collecting 

 natural history specimens or fishing, the 

 greater part of my time was spent on the 

 front porch, watching the numerous species 

 of birds that came near the house. No 

 shooting was allowed in the immediate vi- 

 cinity, of the house, which may partly ac- 

 count for the tameness of many of the birds 

 observed. At least one-half of the species 

 of birds mentioned in the accompanying 

 list were noticed within twenty feet or less 

 of the house, and all were observed from 

 the front porch. The Mocking-bird and 

 the Blue Jay were a study by themselves, 

 the former always singing until one of the 

 latter would approach too near, and then it 

 was a case of scolding and fighting, ac- 

 companied by a fluttering of wings, the 

 Blue Jay generally retiring, leaving the 

 Mocking-bird in peace. Twenty-odd years 

 ago the Carolina Paroquet was quite com- 

 mon in this neighborhood, and the same 

 can be said of the Ivory-billed Wood-, 

 pecker, but none of the former have been 

 seen for twenty-odd years, while the latter 

 is growing scarcer with each passing year. 

 The following list of birds is appended with 

 the hope that those who are confined to a 

 porch will see that at times there is plenty 

 of bird-life to be seen without going miles 

 away from the house — if one will only keep 



his eyes open. Following is a list of the 

 birds observed during my four weeks' stay 

 in this interesting part of Florida: Quail, 

 Mourning Dove, Ground Dove, Turkey 

 Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Pileated 

 Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, 

 Flicker, Humming-bird, Phcebe, Blue Jay, 

 Common Crow, Meadowlark, American 

 Goldfinch, Grasshopper Sparrow, Chipping 

 Sparrow, Cardinal, Towhee, Purple Mar- 

 tin, Parula Warbler, Palm Warbler, Mock- 

 ing-bird, Brown Thrasher, Carolina 

 Wren, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin. 

 Of the twenty-six species of birds here 

 enumerated, all were more or less common 

 excepting the Humming-bird, Carolina 

 Wren and the Red-shouldered Hawk. 

 Two or three species of Warblers, as well 

 as a species of Flycatcher, were seen, but 

 from my position on the porch I could not 

 identify them with a certainty. — Philip 

 Laurent*, Philadelphia, Pa. 



* For a list of birds seen by the writer during two 

 short trips made to Gulf Hammock in the years 1886-87, 

 see Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. 12, pp. 157-159. 



Shoot the Evictor 



In your May-June, 1905, issue of Bird- 

 Lore, Lieutenant Bennett writes an interest- 

 ing article. Among other things he gives 

 his experience and failure in trying to drive 

 the pugnacious, abominable English Sparrow 

 from his Wren- boxes. He desires to hear fur- 

 ther from your correspondent in January and 

 February number of 1905 as to his success 

 in using a gun. I take it, however, that a 

 word of experience from any one on this 

 point will be acceptable as " in the mouth of 

 two or three witnesses shall every word be 

 established." Last spring I put up, in two 

 trees near our house, two nest-boxes made 

 from hollow sticks, say six inches in di- 

 ameter. The Wren-box had an open door 

 a scant inch in diameter; the other box, for 

 Bluebirds, perhaps one and three-quarters 

 inches . Neither of them had " To Let" cards 

 on, yet prospective tenants began to arrive 

 almost as soon as the boxes were hung in po- 

 sition. The Wren-house door being too 

 small to admit Sparrows, the Wrens had a 

 pretty good time for a day or two, until they 

 decided to take the house and began to move 



