Notes from Field and Study 



277 



Creepers were observed, a rather large 

 number for so late in the season. — 

 Edward Fleischer, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Bird-Notes from Sedalia, Mo. 



Birds seem unusually plentiful in Sedalia 

 this spring. In a drive fourteen or fifteen 

 blocks from the business streets of a city 

 of twenty-five thousand one may see 

 Bluebirds, Robins, Mourning Doves, 

 Brown Thrashers, Bronzed Crackles, 

 Meadowlarks, Baltimore Orioles, Red- 

 headed Woodpeckers, perhaps a House 

 Wren, and Flickers. 



There are many trees along the resi- 

 dence streets that furnish nesting-places 

 for all these, except the Meadowlarks that 

 nest in the outlying vacant prairie lots. 

 In the back yards, where cats are not too 

 plentiful, and where the copse is suffi- 

 ciently thick and secluded, the Brown 

 Thrasher has his nest. 



In my own yard are several soft maples; 

 in one of these having a stump at the top, 

 a flicker has made his nesting-place and 

 has worked persistently for nearly two 

 weeks now to fashion a house for the brood 

 to come. The female seemed to do all 

 the work, commencing early in the morn- 

 ing and working until the warm hours of 

 noon. In the afternoon she was again at 

 work making the chips fly until about six 

 o'clock. From appearances the hole is 

 about finished. The male occasionally 

 visits the scene of activity but takes no 

 part. 



About three feet from the Flicker hole 

 a pair of English Sparrows have piled up 

 one of the conglomerations they use as 

 nests. 



These near neighbors seem to agree 

 fairly well and get along with some hard 

 language and quite a bit of scolding. 



About forty feet from the Flicker tree 

 is another maple; on this I put up a piece 

 of fence-post with a hole made in it with 

 auger and chisel, thinking I could perhaps 

 have a family of Bluebirds. I was re- 

 warded by a pair selecting it for a nesting- 

 place in spite of the numerous English 

 Sparrows. The Bluebirds are valiant 



fighters and seem always in eye-shot 

 ready to give battle to any intruder. The 

 Sparrows do not seem to care for that 

 particular nesting-place, and I can not 

 determine whether it be a case of sour 

 grapes or whether the hole is not sufii- 

 ciently large for their liking. 



In the same tree with the Bluebirds, 

 but higher up is another Sparrow's nest; 

 a kind of an apartment house. 



I had hoped for a Robin's nest but so 

 far none have built on my grounds. A 

 couple of House Wrens stayed a few days 

 and a box furnished for them was scorned. 



Many interesting moments that I can 

 spare are spent watching the little home- 

 makers in a busy cit}'. — Chas. A. McNeil, 

 M. D., Sedalia, Mo. 



Sussex County, N. J., Notes 



We notice, in your introductory notes 

 to the Christmas census, the statement 

 that Pine Grosbeaks, Redpolls, and Cross- 

 bills have not come farther south than 

 New England. 



We sent no Christmas list, but it may 

 interest you to know that a flock of twenty- 

 five Pine Grosbeaks came to us on 

 January 9. Only one male in full red 

 coloring was among them. The others 

 were females and young males. The flock 

 visited our maple trees almost daily until 

 about the middle of February, when the 

 extreme cold and the big storms seemed 

 to break up the flock into smaller groups. 

 We saw them in various places throughout 

 the town until March 20, when the last 

 one disappeared. 



A flock of about a dozen Redpolls fed 

 on a row of tamarack trees in our drive- 

 way from February 22 till March i. 

 During a heavy snowstorm one venture- 

 some fellow appeared at the window 

 where some Chickadees were feeding. 



On March i, ten American Crossbills, 

 came to a small spruce tree about twenty- 

 five feet from our house, and industriously 

 and systematically exhausted the seeds 

 from a small crop of cones in the top of 

 the tree. 



What we consider our most wonderful 



