The Audubon Societies 377 



very few on account of some kind of an insect that ate the tomatoes. I think 

 it was my Martins and Bluebirds that kept mine free from insects, because 

 I did not use anything to keep the insects off. 



I have just put up a Wren-house. I am hoping some Httle Wren will make 

 its home there next summer. 



We have a vine on our front porch, and a Robin built there last summer 

 and raised four little Robins. We are hoping that they will come back again 

 this year. 



The Oregon Chickadees are very numerous here. You can hear them almost 

 any time you go out. 



Meadowlarks stayed here all winter, and so did the Bluebirds and Robins. 

 It snowed for about a week here, but we fed them and they just swarmed around 

 the back porch where there was food. As we are only 100 miles from the coast, 

 and on a river. Sea Gulls stay here for the smelt in the river. 



I have a kodak and try to take pictures of birds but have never had very 

 much luck. 



The Flicker, or more commonly known Yellow-hammer, is a familiar bird 

 in these parts. We also have the Allen Hummingbird, as well as the King- 

 fisher. There are also lots of Thrushes here and plenty of Sparrows. — Mary 

 C. Denny, (age, 13 years), Vancouver, Wash. 



[It will be instructive for Eastern readers to look up the species and varieties of the 

 common birds noted in these letters from the Far West, e. g., the Chickadee, Goldfinch, 

 Towhee, and Bluebird, and, also, to study the occurrence and distribution of Humming- 

 birds in North America, and more particularly, in the United States. Especially note- 

 worthy is the mention of the beneficial food-habits of birds in the garden. The tomato- 

 worm may have been the pest injuring the plants. — A. H. W.] 



NESTING RECORDS 



Last year I found seventy-one nests. Fifty-four of them were found back 

 in New Jersey before the middle of June, when I came home. There, although 

 it was rather late for nests, I found seventeen nests, exclusive of two large Cliff 

 Swallow colonies. 



I have a notebook in which I keep a record of all the nests that I find. 1 

 give each nest a number and record each observation of that nest under its 

 own number. In the first entry for each nest I describe the location carefully 

 for future reference. Here is just a sample, showing the records of the first 

 six nests that I found. 



1. April 23. Robin in apple tree nearest barn in back orchard. Saw her lay the first 



piece of string in the crotch. 



2. April 24. Phoebe on steel girder under first bridge west of hospital. Two eggs. Last 



year's nest on another girder. 



3. April 25. Robin in bush in front of Cline house. No eggs. 

 I. April 25. Big bunch of grass, no mud lining. 



4. April 26. Purple Grackle in small cedar on edge of our orchard. Three eggs. 



