THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 



The registered membership of the Society on 

 October ist was 47,841, showing an increase of 

 197 for the past month, drawn from the following 

 sources: 



New York 96 Ohio 12 



Massachusetts 31 Illinois i 



New Jersey 2 Michigan 5 



New Hampshire 8 Minnesota i 



Vermont i West Virginia 21 



Rhode Island 3 Maryland 4 



Connecticut i Ontario i 



Pennsylvania 10 



197 

 C. F. Amery, General Secretary. 



AN INTELLIGENT CROW. 



A FAMILY named Tennant, living at Hebron, 

 Conn., have a tame crow, which they think would 

 be hard to beat. He takes a very lively interest 

 in all the farming operations, seeming to regard the 

 running of the mowing-machine as requiring his 

 especial supervision. Whenever he hears the whirr 

 of the machine he will immediately fly in the direc- 

 tion of the sound, and perch on the backs of the 

 team or on the machine. When a stop is made for 

 oiling he becomes very curious, sticks his inquisitive 

 head down and takes the spout in his bill. In his 

 flying trip he is greatly annoyed by kingbirds, who 

 will swoop down upon him and peck him. When 

 these annoyances become unbearable, Jocko, as he is 

 called, flies directly to the nearest human friend and 

 perches upon his shoulder, knowing that he is then 

 safe from his tormentors. He has a very peculiar 

 habit of investigating the interior of your ear with 

 his bill when perched upon your shoulder. It is 

 needless to say that the children of the family are 

 greatly attached to him. — Hartford Daily Courant. 



A WAYWARD PET ROBIN. 



Another pet bird with pretty ways went astray 

 this week, and this time it was a fat little robin with 

 a bright crimson breast and eyes like beads. The 

 little fellow was so fat and plump that he had been 

 christened Bunch. It seems that Bunch, who was 

 the pet bird of Mrs. W. P. Hurd of 43 West Thirty- 

 ninth street, had a way of following his mistress 

 about from room to room, perching, as it best 

 pleased him, on her head or shoulder. Tuesday 

 morning he saw Mrs. Ilurd go into the back yard, 

 and he surveyed things with very curious eyes. He 

 perched on the fence and looked at the back of St. 



Ignatius's sanctuary. Mrs. Hurd tried to coax him 

 into his cage, but he took wing for one of the 

 sanctuary's windows. Here mysterious sounds from 

 the organ startled him and he flew to the roof of an 

 adjacent house. Mrs. Hurd went to the roof of the 

 house and called him. Bunch cocked his head first 

 on one side, then on the other, and finally flew over 

 to the chimney of a neighbor's house. The chimney 

 was hotter than anything Bunch had ever remem- 

 bered standing on, so he gave a couple of shrill 

 whistles, gathered himself, and flew in terror toward 

 Sixth avenue, since which time he has not been seen 

 by his owner. 



Bunch had been a pet for the last year, and had 

 many ways that made him dear to his owner. His 

 chief delight was to light on the back of Pippo, a 

 hairless Mexican dog, and keep a firm footing in 

 spite of the efforts of Pippo to shake him off. An- 

 other favorite trick of the bird was to pick up and 

 carry to his cage spools, needles, and even thimbles. 

 He was a very clever bird, a good companion, and 

 an excellent whistler, and his loss is sincerely re- 

 gretted. 



BIRD STRATEGY. 



A couple of robins recently came to an amicable 

 understanding, and built a nest in the fork of a low 

 bough on a pine tree growing near the railroad 

 station at Fair View, N. J. It was almost com- 

 pleted on Sunday, and, going to their new home, 

 with the last few twigs requisite, rather for an or- 

 nate finishing than for anything else, the birds were 

 mortified to find a large, green, ugly toad filling the 

 nest, and hopping over the edges. Whether a toad 

 can climb a tree or not is an unsettled question, and 

 did not seem to interest the birds. He was there, 

 and that was quite enough for them. Several hours 

 were passed in strenuously trying to eject him, the 

 birds working in a systematic manner, and, by using 

 their combined forces at one side of the nest, en- 

 deavoring to heave the intruder out at the other. 

 They were not strong enough, however, and they 

 could not raise the gross body. The toad seemed 

 to be asleep, and, as he lay with closed eyes, the 

 respiratory heaving of his fat sides alone showing that 

 he was not dead, neither pecking nor pushing 

 seemed to have the slightest effect on him. Weary 

 and discouraged, the robins flew to an adjacent 

 bush, and, apparently, discussed the situation. 



When they returned to the attack ten minutes 

 later they had perfected a plan that made short work 



