Notes from Field and Study 



83 



structure. One of the Doves was on the 

 nest when discovered, hut no eggs were 

 present. This nest was afterward aband- 

 oned, for some unknown reason. 



Another nest of this species was noted 

 on May 28, in the same general locality, 

 but was placed on the ground. The nest, 

 a simple affair of dried grasses and a very 

 few twigs, was situated at the foot of a 

 tree about half-way up the side of the 

 ravine, and contained two fresh eggs with 

 the old bird sitting. Three days later the 

 nest was revisited but the eggs were gone 

 and the nest apparently abandoned. 



A similar nest was located by another 

 party earlier in the season. This one was 

 placed at the base of an apple tree in 

 rather an extensive orchard, and also 

 •contained eggs. — A. D. Tinker, Ann 

 Jiarbor, Mich. 



A 



increasing nuisance to both farmers and 

 town-dwellers, but there is a measure of 

 relief in sight. In West Chester, a town 

 of 11,000 people, there are dozens of little 

 red and gray Screech Owls hiding in the 

 old dead trees in daytime, and at night 

 sallying forth to make a meal on the 

 English Sparrows. They are making their 

 mark, too, for the Sparrows are becoming 

 less abundant to a considerable extent, 

 and the people have come to a realization 

 of the good the Owls do, and are giving 

 them protection. Along this same line 

 might be noted the entire absence, during 

 the past season, of the potato bugs. Some 

 disease seems to have attacked them, 

 and last summer they were absolutely 

 wiped off the face of the earth so far as 

 this paft of the country is concerned. — 

 Robert P. Sharples, West Chester, Pa. 



A Winter Robin 



It has occured to me that the readers 

 -of Bird-Lore might be interested to 

 know that, on January 10, the writer 

 saw a Robin in the city of Chicago. The 

 bird was very much alive, although appar- 

 ently puzzled and disturbed. It was in a 

 tree on the side of a bricked street, within 

 two squares of Lake Michigan. The mean 

 temperature for that day was 36 ; the 

 ground was bare, and the wind from the 

 south. The first dates on which a Robin 

 was seen by the writer for the past three 

 years are February 24, 1905, February 

 22, 1906, February 16, 1907. — Percival 

 B. Coffin, Chicago, III. 



Nature's Remedies 



Nature does not run this world on 

 humanitarian principles. If any forms of 

 life become too numerous, she finds a 

 plan to check them. And while it may be 

 hard on the individual, and may cause 

 unthinking people to call it cruel, yet it is 

 the divine law of the universe and is for 

 the good of the community. There have 

 been several exemplifications of this law 

 in Pennsylvania recently. For years the 

 English Sparrows have been an ever- 



Over-productive Robins 



A friend of mine, a physician and a 

 thoroughly reliable man, tells me of a pair 

 of Robins which rather overdid the matter 

 of brood-rearing last summer, in the town 

 of Strasburg, this county. They built 

 their nest on some vines trailing about a 

 veranda, so that they could be easily 

 watched. Instead of laying the usual 

 Robin clutch of eggs, the female laid 

 eight. My informant declares that they 

 were all Robin's eggs, and none of them 

 the eggs of the Cowbird. He says he has 

 known the Robin's eggs since his boyhood 

 days, and cannot be mistaken in this 

 instance. 



In due time all the eggs were hatched. 

 As the bantlings grew, the nest began to 

 overflow, and, one by one, at least three, 

 perhaps four, of them were crowded over 

 the edge, fell to the ground, and were 

 found lying there dead, still too young to 

 be taken care of outside the nest. Four 

 of the birds remained in the nest till they 

 were able to fly, when they were brought 

 off safely. I do not believe such over-cal- 

 culations are frequent in Robindom, or in 

 any other part of the bird domain. Do 

 other observers know of such instances? — 

 Leander S. Keyser, Canal Dover, O . 



