jBtotes^ from JFieltJ anti ^tuDp 



A New Wren Song 



At the village of Shanesville, Tuscarawas 

 county, Ohio, I heard a Carolina Wren sing 

 a new song on the morning of December 3. 

 The bird was perched in plain view on a 

 peach tree, in a friend's rear yard, and sang 

 precisely like a Song Sparrow, except that the 

 tones were stronger and fuller. The tune, 

 pitch and phrasing of the song were just like 

 one of the Sparrow's favorite runs. Neither 

 the quality of tone nor the technique was 

 that of the Wren I was greatly surprised to 

 hear this song, for I have been studying the 

 Carolina's minstrelsy for many years and in 

 many parts of the country. A young man 

 of the town told me afterward that he had 

 been hearing the bird sing for some time, 

 and thought, too, it was a Song Sparrow 

 until he saw the bird plainly, and noted that 

 it was a Carolina Wren. I am interested in 

 knowing whether any one else has ever heard 

 this Wren borrow the Song Sparrow's trills, 

 or whether our little musician was an ' orig- 

 inal.' — Leander S. Keyser, Canal Dover, 

 Ohio. 



Sport in Italy 



A portion of a letter by Mr. J Rowley, 

 formerly of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, dated from Rome, will interest Bird- 

 Lore's readers. Mr. Rowley writes that 

 "the Italian 'sportsman' uses a live Owl — 

 a little gray fellow, without horns. These 

 little Owls may be seen at this season exposed 

 for sale all over the town. A good lively 

 Owl sells for one dollar. The ' sportsman ' 

 sticks up his Owl, as shown in the enclosed 

 photograph, and takes his stand some dis- 

 tance away. When the small birds gather 

 around to mob the Owl, the sportsman gets 

 in his work on them. In Italy, no bird is 

 too small for the sportsman. They kill any- 

 thing with feathers upon it. A small gray 

 Lark is the bird that is most highly prized, 

 and these sell for 4 cents each in the markets. 

 It is a common thing to see men roaming 

 about the streets, hawking small birds for 



sale — pecks of them, all strung by the nos- 

 trils. The chief ones are : Starlings, Gold- 

 finches, Sparrows (not English), small Larks, 

 Thrushes. Quail and Lapwings. I always 

 thought of Mr. Dutcher when I saw these 



AN ITALIAN 'SPORTSMAN' 



Strings of poor little things offered for sale 

 for food purposes. The Italians are brought 

 up to this here, so we can't wonder at their 

 carrying the custom to America with them." 



A Belated Robin 



On October 29, 1903, in Brandon, Vt., a 

 Robin was seen sitting on a nest in a leafless 

 tree, near a house. The person who saw 

 it went to the house and obtained permission 

 to look into the nest from an upstairs win- 

 dow. There were seven or eight eggs seen 

 when the Robin left the nest. It was not 

 possible to learn how long the Robin had 

 been brooding, for the occupant of the house 

 had "something else to do besides watch 

 birds," and knew nothing about it. — Car- 

 oline Gray Soule. 



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