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Bird - Lore 



was a large migration of small birds during 

 the night, as the bushes were full of Tow- 

 hees, Cuckoos and Kingbirds, and the Red- 

 breasted Nuthatches were more numerous 

 than the day before. They outnumbered the 

 sum total of all the other small migrants. 

 On the 23d, large numbers of them still were 

 in evidence, but not so many as on the 22d, 

 and on the 24th only a few were seen. 



The flight covered three days — 21st to 

 23d — while on the 24th the stragglers 

 brought up the rear, a lone laggard being 

 seen on the 25th. At the height of the mi- 

 gration, Nuthatches were seen everywhere, 

 — on the buildings, on trees, bushes, and 

 weeds and even on the ground. They were 

 remarkably tame and would permit a near 

 approach ; if the observer were seated they 

 would come within a few feet of him. They 

 crept over the roofs and sides of the houses, 

 ■examining the crevices between the shingles; 

 Jhey searched under the cornices on the 

 piazzas and in fact looked into every nook 

 and corner that might be the hiding-place 

 <of insects. 



Every tree had its Nuthatch occupant, 

 while many of them evidently found food 

 even on the bushes and larger weeds. On a 

 large abandoned fish factory at least fifty of 

 these birds were seen at one time. The 

 proprietor of one of the hotels told me that 

 live of the birds were in his building catch- 

 ing flies, they having come in through the 

 open doors and windows. They are expert 

 flycatchers in the open, as many of them were 

 seen to dart after flying insects after the 

 manner of the true Flycatchers. It would 

 ■be exceedingly interesting to know how 

 ilarge a territory this migration covered and 

 to get some records of it from stations north 

 and south of this point of observation, in 

 order to see the rate at which the birds trav- 

 eled — William Dutcher, New York City. 



The Blue lay as a Destroyer of Eggs and 

 Young Birds 



For more than ten years the Blue Jays 

 ftiave been very abundant about our house, 

 and near our summer home. For several 

 ■winters I have had a window-board to 

 which they have come regularly and very 



freely for food, and no English Sparrow 

 has come near my windows while the board 

 was in place, and the Jays were constant vis- 

 itors. In the winter of 1904-5 I did not put 

 up the window-board, the Jays sought food 

 elsewhere, and English Sparrows built nests 

 in the vines on the house, behind the rain- 

 pipes and on copings. 



In the spring a brood of Sparrows hatched 

 in a nest near my window, and one day I 

 was startled by a great screaming and 

 squawking near this nest. I found a Jay in 

 the act of carrying off one of the young 

 Sparrows, while all the old birds in the 

 neighborhood were protesting clamorously. 

 On each of five days following this, a Jay 

 seized a young Sparrow from this nest, 

 sometimes flying to a distance with it, but, 

 more than once, devoured the Sparrow on a 

 branch of the nearest tree. 



These Sparrows were not feathered, but I 

 have seen the Jays capture and eat Sparrows 

 with tails over an inch long and fully 

 feathered. 



In the summer of 1905, each brood which 

 the Sparrows undertook to rear on the house, 

 near my window, was eaten by the Jays. 



In Brandon, Vt., I have seen a Jay try to 

 steal the eggs of a Chipping Sparrow and 

 fail only because the clamor of all the small 

 birds near by called me to the rescue. Even 

 then I had to stone the Jay in order to make 

 it fly away. It did get one of the young, at 

 least, soon alter they were hatched. 



We have many, far too many, English 

 Sparrows in Brookline; but I am sure that 

 the Jays keep the number from increasing 

 even more rapidly, and I count this to their 

 credit. Their destruction of other birds is 

 a very great disadvantage, and a character- 

 istic which must count against their value. 



My observation in three places not near 

 each other, convinces me that Jays will eat 

 eggs and young birds whenever they can 

 get them, and that they will bear much 

 opposition in order to get them. — Caroline 

 Gray Soule, Brookline, Mass. 



[Bird-Lore would welcome observations on the 

 feeding habits of Blue Jays from ornithologists living 

 in the Mississippi Valley where the abundance and 

 familiarity of the bird give unusual opportunity for 

 study. — Ed ] 



