The Audubon Societies 133 



FROM ADULT AND YOUNG OBSERVERS 



A NATURE-STUDY CLASS 



Early in the spring of 191 2, the writer was given a class of twelve twelve- 

 year-old boys in Sunday School. Some of them had not been attending regu- 

 larly, and an inquiry resulted in finding that some of them preferred walking 

 in the woods and digging out chipmunks on Sunday to attending Sunday 

 School. In order to form a bond of common interest with these boys, I prom- 

 ised to take a stroll with them on each Sunday afternoon, and help them to 

 study birds, flowers, and trees in a systematic and orderly way. One of the 

 boys had a stub-tailed dog by the name of Spot. This Scotch terrier went 

 with us the first time, but after that he was tabooed, because he would now and 

 then scare up a rabbit, and our orderly walk was likely to degenerate into a 

 rout. By making the dog stay at home and making the boys promise not to 

 throw stones, we succeeded in keeping probably as orderly a crowd as other 

 Sunday-afternoon strollers were. 



The boys kept lists of the birds we saw on each trip. The number seen on 

 each trip that we were able to identify was from twenty to twenty-five, the 

 total number of kinds running somewhere between eighty and ninety. The 

 following are some of the more interesting observations made. 



Among the earlier visitants, we noted a pair of Black-capped Chickadees, 

 and a Tufted Titmouse and his mate. Although these birds generally nest 

 farther north, the above mentioned individuals stayed with us all summer. 

 The Tufted Titmouse supposedly nested in a hollow somewhere in a large 

 elm. At any rate, every morning during April and May, from 3.45 to 4 a.m., 

 just at daybreak, the male bird might be heard in the top of the elm singing 

 his "Peeler, peeler, peeler;" but at any other time of day he was entirely 

 silent. The Chickadees gave their characteristic notes only when they first 

 appeared in the spring. During the summer they were entirely silent, but 

 very much in evidence, from time to time as they carefully searched our 

 apple trees for insects. The last seen of the Chickadees, they had a large 

 family of young in tow. 



During the migrating season in the spring a number of Warblers were 

 seen, but the only ones that would remain quiet long enough to be identified 

 were the Black-throated Green Warbler and the Maryland Yellow-throat, 

 or "Witchety" bird. This latter bird has been of very common occurrence. 



Almost every time we went past a certain pasture, we saw a rusty-looking 

 male Cowbird and his three wives walking along before the cattle. 



We found two Cowbird's eggs in two different nests of Chipping Sparrows, 

 and removed them. One of the eggs we put in a Robin's nest. Before 

 going back on her nest, the female Robin held her head on one side and in- 

 spected the nest; then she deliberately pulled out the strange egg and 



