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Bird - Lore 



other house. I went out to investigate and 

 found five eggs in the first nest. There had 

 been a week of cool weather, and we 

 thought perhaps the eggs had been chilled. 

 I cleaned out the house and waited. Again 

 five eggs were laid and the incubating pro- 

 cess begun, and again the female refused to 

 stay in her nest. Her mate would try to 

 coax her back, and he even fluttered about 

 and beat her with his wings — she would 

 go back for a moment, but not to stay. 



In a few days they were back at the first 

 house and another nest was completed. 

 This time it was carelessly put together. 

 They then built a still poorer nest at the 

 second house, which I had cleaned out, and 

 then both birds disappeared. The next 

 week a pair of Bluebirds began a nest in 

 house No. I, and the family was raised 

 with success. I often wondered if it was 

 the same pair, or if Mr. Bluebird at last 

 succeeded in getting a wife who was a 

 home-lover. He certainly deserved one. 



The other observation was made with 

 Wrens and is even more unusual, or at 

 least we thought it was. 



Early in the summer two Wrens looked 

 over the houses at their disposal and at 

 last selected the one on our front porch. 

 The nest was built and the eggs laid, or so 

 we thought, for the male soon began feed- 

 ing his mate. 



A few weeks later we noted that another 

 Wren was carrying sticks into a house in 

 the flower-garden. She seemed to do most 

 of the work, although her mate would come 

 and sit on the clothes-line and warble his 

 approval. Soon she was snugly settled, 

 and then we discovered we had a real 

 romance on our hands, for her mate was 

 also the mate of the bird in the front porch, 

 or, in other words, he was a bigamist. 



Of course now we watched with even 

 keener interest than before, for by the 

 time mate No. 2 was comfortably settled, 

 mate No. i was able to forage for herself 

 and family. He also helped to feed the 

 little birds, but he never neglected to 

 bring choice morsels to Madame Wren in 

 the garden. 



By the time No. 2's eggs were hatched, 

 brood No. i had flown, and he could care 



for his second family with ease and com- 

 fort. — Kathleen M. Hempel, Elkader, 

 Iowa. 



A Parakeet in a City Park 



Nothing could be more pleasing to the 

 eye than the sight of the distinguished 

 ofiicers of the Allies in their handsome uni- 

 forms as they go about the streets of our 

 city. The drab-clad civilian notes them 

 from the corner of an envious eye, and the 

 small boys gaze with frank and unquali- 

 fied admiration. 



I noticed much the same effect among 

 the birds in Central Park one afternoon in 

 October. I was coming along the path 

 around the Reservoir above 85th Street 

 when my eye was caught by a large flock of 

 dingy English Sparrows that were feeding 

 in the grass by the bridle-path. As my eye 

 roved from the outskirts of the flock toward 

 its center I became aware of some cause of 

 commotion and special interest. The birds 

 were craning their necks, chirping loudly, 

 and jostling one another in their effort to 

 stand all in the same place. In another 

 moment I had discovered the cause. Shin- 

 ing with the brightness of a patch of sun- 

 light on the green grass, and politely obliv- 

 ious of the vulgar peering crowd about him, 

 sat a little Parakeet busily engaged in feed- 

 ing on the grass seeds. He showed little 

 fear as I approached, and finally flew to a 

 small tree a few paces away, from which 

 he watched a moment or two and then re- 

 turned to the grass. The distinguished 

 stranger was about the size of a White- 

 throated Sparrow in body, but of course 

 his tail was much longer. On his forehead 

 he bore a clear yellow mark. His head, 

 throat, breast, underparts, and rump were 

 bright bluish green. His upperparts were 

 distinctly yellowish green, while the wing- 

 coverts were blackish, each feather being 

 delicately fringed with pale yellow or 

 whitish. The tail feathers, as the bird 

 spread them in alighting, showed a fringe 

 at the outer ends of yellowish green and 

 whitish. 



Such a sight always fills the observer 

 with strange thoughts of other lands and 



