336 



Bird - Lore 



attractive part of the exhibit was a col- 

 lection of nests kindly loaned by Miss 

 Adelaide Bird of Wilson College. More 

 than a hundred nesting-boxes had been 

 brought in by the school- children of town 

 and also by children from the rural schools. 

 The members of our Junior Audubon 

 Societies were, of course, most interested. 

 Prizes were awarded to those having made 

 the best boxes. Hundreds and hundreds 

 of people came in during the week and 

 showed the greatest interest in the work 

 of this Committee. We were especially 

 pleased to have many visitors from dis- 

 tant parts of the county. It means so 

 much to interest our rural friends, for 

 they can do so much more than we can 

 when they become fully alive to the 

 importance of bird-protection. — Helen 

 M. Sellers, Chambersburg, Pa. 



A Singing Blue Jay 



We have a Blue Jay in our neighbor- 

 hood which has been singing the follow- 

 ing 'song' all summer : 



fSiing- two octaves higher than written.) 



$ 



iz 



He gives the exact pitch of these three 

 notes, according to my piano, and appar- 

 ently he is much pleased with his new 

 composition, for he sings it over and over, 

 very emphatically, day after day. 



The Blue Jays have a great variety of 

 notes, but I have never before heard these. 

 — Emily C. H. Armstrong, Hyde Park, 

 Mass. 



Strange Behavior of a Robin 



Very curious behavior on the part of a 

 Robin was witnessed this past summer by 

 various members of my family and my- 

 self. At the rear of our bungalow (near 

 the north shore of Long Island) two elec- 

 tric light wires are stretched past the 

 kitchen windows, about parallel with the 

 wall of the house and with the ground. 

 They are some 3^ feet from the windows, 

 and a foot or so below the top. 



The Robin would perch on the nearer 



wire, fly vigorously against one of the 

 panes of glass, and then down to a small 

 post, where the railing of the steps joins 

 the horizontal railing of the landing. This 

 post is almost directly under the wire and 

 about on a level with the window-sill. 

 Flying up from this post to the wire, he 

 would repeat the 'stunt' indefinitely. 



It appeared to be done simply for the 

 fascination of dashing his breast (with 

 wings spread) against the glass. There 

 was no attempt to get through or past 

 the glass, no fluttering against the pane 

 as if trying to reach some object inside — 

 simply the thump against the window and 

 the quick slanting flight to the post (or, 

 occasionally, directly back to the wire). 

 This was repeated sometimes two or three 

 times a minute and probably two or three 

 hundred times a day. At first the pres- 

 ence of a person in the kitchen would 

 frighten him away to a near-by tree; but 

 soon he became quite indifferent to one 

 moving about inside, and even vigorous 

 measures to scare him away, such as 

 shooing, clapping hands, and throwing 

 water at him, served only to send him off 

 for the moment. 



At the end of five or six days we tied 

 a strip of burlap across the upper portion 

 of the window, against which he habit- 

 ually flew. He then flew against the lower 

 part of the window or against the other 

 window, and even occasionally against 

 the screen door. The whole performance 

 lasted about two weeks, when he desisted 

 and disappeared as suddenly as he came. 

 The period was about the second and 

 third weeks of July. There was never 

 any sign that the bird was injuring him- 

 self or suffering any ill effects from his 

 encounters with the window. 



It is possible, of course, that the first 

 time the Robin flew against the glass, he 

 was seeking to get beyond it to some 

 object in the kitchen, though no particu- 

 lar article seemed to us a likely objective. 

 As stated above, there was no indication 

 of such a purpose by the time his actions 

 had come to our attention. 



We should be very glad to hear whether 

 similar actions have been observed before, 



