226 



Bird - Lore 



Starling, and showing every evidence of a 

 good grip. The Starling seemed fairly 

 exhausted but jerked around spasmodically 

 every time the Hawk made a move, which 

 was sometimes merely to change its 

 position, but more often to nip the side of 

 the Starling under its wing. The Hawk's 

 wings were continually spread so as to 

 prevent the Starling from overturning 

 him. 



The above actions were continued for 

 about five minutes, when the Hawk 



three feet, no injury could be seen. If 

 there was one it was well concealed by 

 feathers. — H. I. Hartshorn, Newark, N. J . 



Yellow Warbler vs. Cowbird 



A Yellow Warbler's nest containing two 

 eggs of the Cowbird was found by the 

 writers in the Missouri Botanical Garden, 

 St. Louis, in May, 1917. It was an un- 

 usual one for this species to build, in that 

 a C|uantity of newspaper was used in its 



COWBIRD'S EGGS BURIED IN THE 'CELLAR' OF A YELLOW WARBLER'S NEST 

 Photographed by E. S. Daniels 



was frightened away by a move of the 

 observers and, although he stayed in the 

 vicinity of the Museum awhile, his 

 courage was not equal to his fear of dis- 

 turbance, and he did not return for his 

 supper as long as the Starling was being 

 observed. 



The Starling, in the meantime, ap- 

 parently recovered somewhat and flew to a 

 nearby window-ledge. Its flight, although 

 weak, was straight, so it was obvious that 

 no flight-bones were broken, and when the 

 bird was viewed at a distance of about 



construction. The nest was also not as 

 compact as is usually built by this species, 

 being very loosely constructed, and as we 

 watched it from time to time, we were fear- 

 ful that the nest would fall apart before 

 the young were old enough to leave it. 

 When first noted it was of normal size 

 and contained one Cowbird egg, which in 

 a few days was covered by a small piece 

 of paper. The second foreign egg was laid at 

 a shghtly higher level. Then the Warblers 

 began to work in earnest, rapidly building 

 a thick false bottom to the nest and raising 



