Notes from Field and Study 



337 



and, if so, what explanation of them is 

 accepted. — Herbert L. Cowing, Whit- 

 neyville, Conn. 



[Similar actions by several species of 

 birds have, from time to time, been 

 recorded in Bird-Lore. In most instances 

 the bird appears to mistake its own image, 

 reflected in the glass, for that of an 

 individual of its own species against 

 which it vainly but persistently launches 

 its attacks. — Ed.] 



Cardinal Capturing a Cicada 



That the Cardinal is not averse to par- 

 taking of insect food, and will even make 

 considerable effort to secure it, is borne 

 out by the following little incident which 

 I observed on my lawn in Iowa City, 

 August i8, 1917. 



My first intimation of the affair occurred 

 when I heard the quickly repeated chuck 

 of a Cardinal, accompanied by the notes 

 of a cicada {Cicada sp.), sounded very 

 rapidly, as if the insect were much dis- 

 turbed or excited. Upon looking in the 

 direction of the commotion, I saw, fly- 

 ing rapidly toward the ground, 30 feet 

 away from me, a cicada attempting to 

 escape from a closely pursuing male 

 Cardinal. The insect swerved and twisted 

 in its flight, circling through a small cedar 

 tree in attempting to evade his pursuer, 

 but the Cardinal was not to be denied, and 

 finally captured the cicada on the wing, 

 a few feet from the ground. All the time 

 the cicada was giving forth its familiar 

 singing note, though in a different tone 

 than when undisturbed. The Cardinal 

 alighted on the ground with his prey and 

 began pecking the fluttering insect, 

 apparently for the purpose of rendering 

 it helpless. 



At this stage of the proceedings, the 

 Cardinal was attacked by a pair of House 

 Sparrows, one of which attempted to 

 steal the insect from its captor, but the 

 Cardinal flew into a small bush, closely 

 pursued by the female House Sparrow, 

 which was unsuccessful in wresting the 

 prize from its rightful possessor. The 

 pursued Cardinal flew back again from 



the bush to the ground near its original 

 position when attacked by the Sparrows, 

 and quickly proceeded to break off the 

 wings of the cicada. The bird seemed 

 rather to cut off the wings by sudden 

 pressure of the mandibles, accompanied 

 by a quick sidewise jerk of the head, and 

 I was sufficiently close to the entire per- 

 formance to hear distinctly the snap as 

 the bird severed the insect's wings from 

 its body. The Cardinal then pecked two 

 or three holes in the cicada and flew away 

 with the now helpless insect. The whole 

 affair, as above described, occupied a 

 period of not more than two minutes. — 

 Dayton Stoner, Iowa City, Iowa. 



Evening Grosbeaks at Cadillac, Mich. 



I notice the report on Evening Gros- 

 beaks often and wish to state that, a year 

 ago last February, I had the pleasure of 

 seeing a flock of fourteen of these beau- 

 tiful birds at Cadillac, Mich., nine of 

 them males and five females. They were 

 feeding on box elder shade trees along the 

 streets of the city in a much-used traffic 

 portion. 



They paid no attention to travel of 

 man or beast. I observed them by stand- 

 ing directly in front of the short tree in 

 which they were feeding and enjoyed to the 

 fullest their chatter and lively feeding. I, 

 again, this last March, in the same city, 

 observed a flock of twenty-seven birds, of 

 which I counted eighteen males and only 

 nine females. I wonder if the males 

 usually out-number the females among 

 this species of winter migrants to these 

 parts. 



Winter birds seemed unusually plenti- 

 ful the past year in Michigan. I noticed 

 an abundance of Chickadees, while Snow- 

 buntings and Purple Finches were more 

 abundant than I have ever noticed them 

 in this state, and more especially was this 

 true of the northern part of the southern 

 peninsula. I have also noticed the Black- 

 billed Cuckoos as far north as Antrim 

 Count3^ near the Mackinaw Straits, an 

 unusual occurrence. — Ethan W. Thomp- 

 son, 503 Fuller Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich. 



