CHUCK WILL'S WIDOW 



flushed two young and an old one. 

 The young flew into a cotton field 

 about fifty feet off. They resembled 

 screech owls more than anything else, 

 for the wings and tail had not reached 

 one-half their full length. 



The old bird flew a dozen feet off 

 and began to cluck like a hen. 



The Chuck Will's Widow seems to 

 show little preference between the thin 



pine woods and heavy mixed woods, 

 as I have found them common in both. 

 In the daytime I have never found 

 them in any other place except on the 

 linibs of low trees. 



I also wish to state that their com- 

 mon cry is only uttered when resting, 

 and not, as Mr. Davie says, "on the 

 wing." Albert F. Ganier. 



Vicksburg, Miss. 



NOTES FROM THE FIELD 



BY THE "FIELDERS" 



All indications so far this fall (Nov. 

 i8th) point to an exceedingly mild 

 winter for us this year. Last month 

 a neighbor of ours picked ripe red 

 raspberries that grew in his garden. 

 On the ist of November I found a red 

 clover blossom, the prettiest I have 

 seen this year. If such indications 

 amount to anything we may enjoy a 

 tramp to the woods on Christmas day. 

 — Editor. 



On the 31st of last March I heard 

 the song of the golden-crowned king- 

 let for the first time, although this tiny 

 tilter had been my familiar companion 

 all winter and for many winters in my 

 numerous strolls to the woods. The 

 song was a saucy chatter, quite similar 

 to the opening notes of the ruby- 

 crowned kinglet's ditty, but much 

 feebler. ^ — James McCracken, Chicago, 

 111. 



The amount of food which a young 

 robin is capable of absorbing is enor- 



mous. A couple of vigorous half- 

 grown birds have been fed and in 

 twelve hours devoured ravenously 

 sixty-eight earth worms weighing 

 thirty-four pennyweight, or forty-one 

 per cent more than their own weight. 

 A man at this rate should eat about 

 seventy pounds of flesh per day and 

 drink five or six gallons of water. — 

 Birds. 



Somewhere in my neighborhood, I 

 think perhaps a mile and a half or two 

 miles from my home, there is a large 

 grove of oak and hickory that is occu- 

 pied every fall and winter by a large 

 number of crows as their winter roost, 

 and every afternoon from 4 o'clock 

 until dusk you can see them silently 

 winging their way in that direction. — 

 Lewis Sanford, Cedar Rapids, la. 



Several times this fall I have seen an 

 albino English sparrow in our yard 

 feeding with several of its kind on 

 some berries that grew wild in the 



