:84 



Bird -Lore 



low and other water- loving species of 

 shrubs, surrounded on two sides by wood- 

 land. Plenty of suitable nesting-sites were 

 to be had in this wood for the asking, so 

 there was no apparent reason for this pair 

 departing so far from their usual habits of 

 nesting in trees. In fact, a nest of the 

 species had been, shortly before, discovered 

 in a hollow limb of one of the trees. 



The nest proper consisted simply of a few 

 leaves and ' fine rootlets laid on the bare 

 ground. No attempt at concealment other 

 than that afforded by the surrounding shrubs 

 had been made. Six eggs were present, oval 

 in shape and pure white. 



The female manifested great displeasure 

 at my presence, and her peculiar notes, re- 

 sembling the moaning meow of a cat, soon 

 brought the male to the scene of action. 

 Although the latter exhibited his annoyance 

 at having his home matters broken in upon, 

 by a sharp snapping of the beak, he was not 

 nearly as determined in his efforts to frighten 

 as the female. She would frequently f\y so 

 close to my head and with such a show of 

 courage as to cause me to duck in some trepi- 

 dation. Upon one occasion, when bending 

 over the nest to secure a better view of its 

 contents, she hissed loudly, accompanying 

 the action with a fluttering movement of her 

 wings and a general ruffling of the entire 

 plumage. 



During the period of my stay at the nest 

 the birds kept within a circle of thirty feet. 

 The female was on several occasions within 

 easy reach. 



Some few days later I revisited the nest in 

 hopes of gaining a view of the young, but 

 was disappointed to find the eggs broken 

 and the nest abandoned. — A. D Pinker, 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan. 



The Bartramian Sandpiper 



I have been greatly astonished, in reading 

 "Special Audubon Leaflet No. 6," on Bar- 

 tram's Sandpiper, to find the statement 

 made three times, that this bird is wholly 

 insectivorous. In Nebraska, at least, like 

 many other birds, it takes what comes most 

 easily. After the wheat is cut, and during 

 migration, it frequents the wheat stubble 

 and gorges itself with the waste grain. 



They become, naturally, very fat on this 

 nourishing food. As I used to find them on 

 the rye stubble, commonly in Connecticut, 

 when I was a lad, I presume they were 

 eating rye likewise, but it did not interest 

 me then as now to observe the stomach 

 contents. 



All that is said in the ' Leaflet ' regarding 

 the confiding nature of these birds and their 

 value in the landscape is perfectly correct. 

 They used to be shot for market straight 

 through the nesting season in Rock county, 

 Nebraska. They should, however, certainly 

 be well protected during the nesting season, 

 and not more than one month be open, as 

 is the case in some states with Quail and 

 other useful birds. I think it highly prob- 

 able that this liberty would be more bene- 

 ficial here, and elsewhere, than absolute 

 prohibition. Such is human nature. — J. M. 

 Bates, Red Cloud, Nebraska. 



Robins and Sparrows 



For a number of years I have been an 

 interested observer of the bird-life about my 

 home, but not until last summer did I note 

 that the English Sparrow had begun to 

 trouble the Robins so much that the lat- 

 ter are now seen in fewer numbers than 

 during past seasons. A large lawn near my 

 home has long been the Robins' favorite 

 feeding-place. Sometimes eight or ten of 

 these birds might be seen, but this year 

 (1906) they have almost deserted it, and 

 it is rare to see more than two there at the 

 same time. The cause of this is as follows: 

 As soon as a Robin alights and begins 

 to search for a worm, an English Sparrow 

 will fly down and follow it closely. When 

 the Robin pulls forth the worm the Sparrow 

 rushes in, seizes it and flies off a few feet 

 to swallow it. The Robin looks around in 

 a bewildered sort of way but makes no 

 attempt to recover the stolen morsel, and 

 either goes to hunting again or flies away. 

 Sometimes he has time to secure a worm 

 before the Sparrow is back, but most often 

 not. This performance is gone through 

 with nearly every time a Robin visits the 

 lawn, so that now they rarely visit the 

 place where once they were so common. — 

 C. M. Arnold, fVoonsocket, R. I. 



