Notes from Field and Study 



295 



This fall the house was taken down and 

 three dried skeletons gave mute evidence of 

 the unequal conflict that was waged under 

 the summer sky. — John G. Parker, 

 Hartland, Wis. 



The "Stake-Driver" Again 



I, too, have read several accounts of the 

 booming of the American Bittern, includ- 

 ing that of Mr. vos Burgh in your May- 

 June number. Permit me to add an impor- 

 tant detail not mentioned in Mr. vos 

 Burgh's well-written description. After 

 concluding with the "plunk" position, the 

 bird rests for some time; then, as though 

 a new thought had suddenly occurred to 

 him, he begins to pump in air, appar- 

 ently, for his next performance. With his 

 beak in nearly normal position, he "gulps," 

 his throat begins to swell, and his beak 

 rises to the "plunk" position (as shown in 

 the sketch). Another "gulp," at a higher 

 key than the first, increases the size of the 

 throat and raises the beak to the "plunk" 

 position. Other gulps follow, successively 

 nearer together, successively in a higher 

 key, and with ever higher angle of beak, 

 the throat constantly enlarging to an 

 immense size. The sound suggests to the 

 listener 60 feet away the filling up of a 

 jug with water. When the beak is more 

 nearly vertical than shown in Mr. vos 

 Burgh's first drawing, and the neck is 

 relatively as large as that of the throat of 

 the hylodes before peeping, the real stake- 

 driving begins. The bird seems to have 

 tapped it in before beginning the hard 

 echo - raising blows ! — Henry Turner 

 Bailey, Cleveland, Ohio. 



A Unique Wren Nest 



It seems that birds, copying after man, 

 have been developing in an inventive line. 

 At least one pair of House Wrens at Quincy, 

 111., have come as far as the iron age and 

 are constructing their nests with an idea 

 of having them fireproof. 



Recently the University of Illinois 

 Museum at Champaign was the recipient 

 of an interesting Wren nest. It was found 



by Miss Jessie Brackensick, of Quincy, in 

 an angle of the top sill and braces under the 

 roof of a chicken-house. In the fall of 1915 

 a tangle of rusted chicken-netting was 

 thrown behind the shed, and the following 

 spring a pair of House Wrens in search of 

 nesting material found that the wire would 

 break easily into pieces just suiting their 

 purpose. They used this wire to the prac- 

 tical exclusion of all other usual materials 



WIRE-WOVEN WREN'S NEST FITTED 

 INTO LOCATION SIMILAR TO THAT OF 

 ORIGINAL. 



Photographed by Walter A. Goelitz 



and formed from it a very solid but rather 

 bulky nest. To smooth the cavity some- 

 what, the birds used a few grass stems and 

 long black horse-hairs, also one small mass 

 of cobweb. This completed the list of 

 materials. The Wrens have used this same 

 nest for two seasons and probably would 

 have occupied it again this year had it 

 not been collected and donated to the 

 Museum. — Walter A. Goelitz, Cham- 

 paign, III. 



The Blue Jay Will Murder 



While reading the war news, the mur- 

 derous cry of a Blue Jay was heard, and, 

 at the same time, the pitiful notes of a pair 

 of Robins came to my ears. Upon investi- 

 gation I found that the Jay had hustled a 

 young Robin out of its nest in an adjacent 

 tree and as soon as it struck the ground 

 was pulling shreds of flesh from its breast. 

 When driven away, the Jay called out a 

 defiant note, as though it were part of its 

 daily duties to kill and devour young 



