Notes from Field and Study 



215 



days since I saw the bird at work, I thought 

 I would take down the nest and see what 

 disposition she had made of the colored 

 worsted. When I went to the black-thorn 

 bush, I was much surprised to see a Robin's 

 tail protruding over the edge of the nest 

 and a few minutes later, when the female 

 left, the male appeared with a bill full of 

 worms and proceeded to feed some young 

 birds whose heads I could see and who 

 appeared to be two or three days old. I 

 have looked at the nest several times since 

 I thought she had abandoned it, and have 

 never seen any sign of her, although I 

 have seen the male bird often in other 

 parts of the garden; yet she slipped in 

 quietly and unobserved, finished her nest, 

 laid her eggs and is now, the last of Au- 

 gust, beginning to rear her little ones. — 

 Alexander Pope, Hingham, Mass. 



Protecting Young Birds from the Cats 



It is little use for bird-lovers to meet 

 and pass resolutions if they are going to 

 allow- an army of cats to eat up three- 

 fourths or more of the song birds that are 

 hatched. 



The time when the domestic cat accom- 

 plishes her most terribly effective work 

 is in the early summer when the young 

 birds are unable to fly more than a few- 

 feet at a time and are easily picked up, 

 either night or day. Mr. O. A. Stemple, 

 of Clearwater, Fla., has, however, evolved 

 a scheme which promises to save many 

 of the young, if bird-lovers will only put 

 it in practice. It is simply this: Catch 

 the young birds and put them into a 

 clean flour barrel standing in the shade 

 of a tree near enough to the house to be 

 easily watched. Leave it open at the top 

 and put in food and a shallow dish of 

 fresh water with the young birds. The 

 parents will soon find and feed them, 

 and when they are able to fly upward and 

 out of the barrel, they will take care of 

 themselves. Of course, they must be 

 watched by day and securely covered at 

 night until they are strong enough to fly 

 out of their place of refuge. 



We had an exciting episode here yes- 



terday with a family of young Cardinals. 

 The ambitious little things were out of 

 the nest and unable to fly more than a 

 few feet at a time. The frantic parents 

 were feeding them and trying to keep 

 track of their offspring. 



We saw a Blue Jay make an attack 

 upon one of them, and hurried to the res- 

 cue. But two of the little ones went chirp- 

 ing into a neighbor's yard. Being unable 

 to get through the wire fence I rushed 

 around the corner and into the yard, 

 but I was two minutes or more too late, — 

 only the cat was visible. 



We caught the other two, however, and 

 put them under a sieve with a heavy 

 weight upon it for the night. 



This morning we put the little ones 

 into a clean barrel which stands in the 

 shade of an orange tree. I mixed a hard- 

 boiled egg finely with a teaspoonful of 

 corn meal and put it into the barrel; 

 also a shallow dish of fresh water. The 

 top is open and the old birds are today 

 taking care of them. 



The brilliant male gallantly stands 

 guard to keep the Jays away, while the 

 loyal mother goes into the depths of the 

 barrel (which looks so much like a trap) 

 to feed her young. The little things are 

 eating and growing and once in a while 

 they are exercising their wings in flying 

 upward. The barrel will be closely watch- 

 ed today and carefully covered with 

 the sieve well fastened down before it 

 is quite dark. It will be uncovered very 

 early in the morning, and in three days 

 time, or perhaps less, the birds will be 

 free and independent. — -Elizabeth A. 

 Reed, Clearwater, Fla. 



A Robin Note 



My laboratory studio in Princeton is 

 on the second floor of North College, with 

 a window toward the campus, to the north. 

 This side of Old Nassau is completely 

 covered with ivy, in which dozens of 

 English Sparrows nest. 



A few years ago Robins were very 

 numerous on the college campus, but of 

 late a few red squirrels have their abode 



