Notes from Field and Study 



83. 



Wisconsin, a Blue Jay eating the remains 

 of a young Song Sparrow just filched from 

 its nest on the ground. 



If the Blue Jay will confine its diet to the 

 young English Sparrow I am fairly content, 

 and could see a possible way by which we 

 could be rid of some of these miserable rats 

 of the air; but when the question is turned 

 toward a depletion of the beautiful Song 

 Sparrow, there I have to weigh evidence. 



The large nests of the English Sparrow 

 are such objective bunches of deformity, 

 perhaps the Jay will go for them sooner 

 than for the diminutive homes of the 

 Chipping or the Song Sparrows, when we 

 could allow the Jay to continue in his 

 depredation. I don't believe every pair of 

 Jays go into this kind of business; yet there 

 is testimony enough here in the West to 

 establish the fact that as much as we 

 delight to see the bird on a cold winter's 

 day, yet he does sometimes develop strong 

 cannibalistic tendencies. — Geo B. Pratt, 

 Chicago, III. 



The Blue Jay s Food 

 The appended quotation is from the Bos- 

 ton ' Evening Record ' of January 3, 1907. 

 Blue Jays are very plenty here, as well as 

 brown-tail moth nests. I shall watch the 

 Jays most carefully, and if I find this good 

 work is kept up shall be glad to report it to 

 you. It will be interesting to know if you 

 receive any reports of like nature from other 

 sections. — Geo. G. Blanchard, Wilton, 

 N. H. 



BLUE JAY EATS MOTHS AND MOTH EGGS 



"Wilton, N. H., Jan. i.— The Blue Jay 

 is helping to solve the brown-tail moth 

 question. Dr. Hatch reports that he wit- 

 nessed a sight which will be of interest to 

 all the people of New Hampshire, and it 

 may in a measure help out the brown-tail 

 moth question. While calling upon a 

 patient he noticed a Blue Jay at work on a 

 tree near the window. 



"Upon investigating he found it was 

 breaking into the nests of the brown-tail 

 and eating the eggs and the moths them- 

 selves. The bird cleaned the tree and was 

 busily engaged on another when the docto'' 



left. Upon examination he found that every 

 nest had been cleaned. Bird students explain 

 this by saying that the crust has been hiding 

 a great deal of the bird's food, and he is 

 getting what he can find elsewhere." 



A Persistent Phoebe 



For the past four years a pair of Phoebes 

 has taken possession of a certain spring- 

 house near here. The nest has yearly been 

 destroyed, owing to its near proximity to a 

 much-used path. I was, therefore, greatly 

 suiprised, on April 17, 1906, to see a pair 

 building in the same old place. Two days 

 later the nest was completed and contained 

 one egg. The following day I planned 

 to photograph the egg, but I found the 

 rafter stripped of its dainty home. 



On May 2, I again found them at work 

 on a new nest where the first had formerly 

 been, but this was likewise destroyed, and; 

 so also was a third the following week. 

 Far from being discouraged, however, they 

 began a new structure on the opposite side 

 of the building which protruded into a 

 small pond. 



This was also torn down and left the 

 poor birds once more without a home. I 

 anxiously awaited to see what their next 

 move would be. I am sorry to say they soon 

 began a nest in the place where they had^ 

 lost their first three homes. At first they 

 were successful, and laid one egg: but^ 

 alas! this was also taken. 



I thought they would give up and try 

 somewhere else, but they went right to work 

 and built a nest on the water-side of the 

 spring-house, far out of reach. This, sixth 

 and last, nest, I am glad to say, was not. 

 molested. It was started on June 10, and 

 served as a home for the patient Phoebe's, 

 young ones. — L. S. Pearson, fFayne, Pa. 



An Unusual Nesting- Site of the Ameri- 

 can Long-eared Owl 



It was in the spring of 1903 (April 13)- 

 that I came upon the nest of an American 

 Long-eared Owl placed upon the ground 

 underneath a couple of low, scraggy bushes. 

 The locality in general was a bit of swampy 

 ground, well fringed in by thickets of wil- 



