Notes from Field and Study 
accommodate any bird of this locality 
seeking such a home. Bluebirds have been 
nesting in one or the other of the two 
suitable boxes for years, never in both 
at the same time. Sometimes they have 
had Wrens for neighbors, and sometimes 
they have succeeded in keeping the tree 
to themselves. This year, the Blues came 
and looked the houses over, but finally 
decided that the orchard offered greater 
inducements. A pair of Wrens early pre- 
empted the box with the protective door- 
way, while a pair of Great-crested Fly- 
catchers were industriously examining 
into the desirability of the others. On 
May 25, the Great-crests set to work in 
earnest, building in the box next to the 
home of the Wrens—only about eight 
feet away. Now, June 13, the nest is 
complete, the eggs are laid, and evéry- 
thing is lovely; that is, it might be if the 
neighbors were a little more neighborly. 
The Wrens seem to have great respect, if 
_but little love, for their big neighbors, 
while the Great-crests do not seem to’ 
have much of either for their puny ones. 
The Wrens are never seen near the home 
of the Great-crests, while the latter per- 
_ sistently torment their little neighbors. One 
of them will sit at the Wrens’ door for 
five minutes at a time, unable to enter, 
but impudently peeping in, to the great 
disgust of the outraged householders.— 
EcsBert T. Busx, Stockton, N. J. 
Purple Martin Increasing 
During the spring of 1909 and 1910, I 
have distributed several hundred copies 
of National Association Special Leaflet 
No. 2, “The Purple Martin,” to schools 
and individuals. The result has been 
gratifying beyond expectation. Just a 
few years ago, the Purple Martin was 
a scarce article, almost an unknown 
quantity. Now I am confident that a 
hundred pair, or more, can be found 
within a radius of three miles. After dis- 
tributing the leaflets, bird-boxes went up 
on all sides, to my surprise and satisfac- 
tion. Before the distribution, few people 
knew what a Purple Martin was; but 
147 
now an interest is developing rapidly, 
which also means that there will be lovers 
of other birds. I, myself, have a colony of 
nineteen pairs of Martins. A cat caught 
a few Martins (the cat is not mine), and 
such cats should be dealt with summarily, 
as they no doubt take first place as de- 
stroyers of birds. However, a remedy is 
difficult to find. The English Sparrow 
is also the arch enemy of the Purple 
Martin, and other birds that nest in 
boxes or hollow trees.— FERDINAND 
SCHREIMAN, Concordia, Mo. 
Notes on Swainson’s Hawk 
On the evening of April 8, 1909, a flock 
of about seventy-five Swainson’s Hawks 
appeared here, and scattered to several 
eucalyptus groves to roost. Some soared 
high above the groves, while others 
flew directly into the trees; but by dark 
they were all in the trees. 
The next morning some of them flew 
to the fields and hunted, while others 
remained in the groves. During the day, 
they flew away to the southeast, and did 
not appear here again. They were in 
several different phases of plumage. They 
were very tame, and allowed me to pass 
under the trees they were in without fly- 
ing. JI never saw Hawks in large flocks 
here before, and would like to learn if this 
is a common thing among Swainson’s 
Hawks.—Joun McB. RoBERtTSon, Buena 
Park, Orange Co., Cal. 
Late Stay of the Evening Grosbeaks 
The following will possibly be of some 
interest to your readers. During the win- 
ter of 1909-10, a colony of twenty or 
more Evening Grosbeaks took up their 
residence in the neighborhood of the King 
Philip mine, of this place. Their principal 
food consisted, apparently, of the scraps 
they could pick up from the rock pile at 
the mine. After a car of rock was dumped 
on the pile, the birds would fly down and 
pick the pile over before the car was back 
to the shafthouse. Waste from the miners’ 
dinner-pails was probably choice living 
