November Bird-Life at Reelfoot Lake 25 



As the breeding--season drew near, the Nuthatch's roosting- 

 hole became an attraction for a pair of Bluebirds and numer- 

 ous House Sparrows. The male Nuthatch paid little atten- 

 tion to these invaders during- the daytime, but toward sunset 

 he remained near the hole and asserted his rights by excited 

 "quanking." On April 16th. 1914, a cold, dark day, with 

 snow blowing- in from the East in the afternoon, an amusing 

 incident occurred. The female Nuthatch retired to the hole 

 soon after four o'clock. Half an hour later the male bird 

 came to the shelf and, after eating plentifully of^ the nuts, as 

 was his custom before retiring, flew to the hole. He looked 

 in- and, seeing the female, evidently, did not enter, but climbed 

 about the branches near and scolded, acting as he did when 

 the Bluebirds appeared. He soon moved off and did not re- 

 turn until the next day. Lack of room could not have pre- 

 vented his entering, for this same cavity accommodated a 

 brood of Bluebirds later in the season. 



During the next week the great ash tree was taken down ; 

 its trunk was so far decayed that the tree was in danger of 

 being blown down by the wind. The loss of this tree and the 

 subsequent cutting away of other trees and shrubs in the 

 vicinity were evidently not to the Nuthatch's liking, for dur- 

 ing the following autumn he visited us rarely. That the pair 

 of Nuthatches bred in the neighborhood is probable, how- 

 ever, for Mrs. Tyler saw on July 30th, 1914, an adult bird 

 on the cherry tree feeding two young ones. 



Lexinsi-ton, Mass. 



NOVEMBER BIRD-LIFE AT REELFOOT LAKE, 

 TENN. 



BY A. F. GANIER. 



Thanksgiving, 1915, and the three days following, No- 

 vember 26, 27 and 28, were spent at Reelfoot Lake, Tenn., 

 by Prof. A. C. Webb, Dr. Geo. R. Mayfield, and the writer. 

 The exact location of our headquarters was two miles east 

 of Phillippy, the R. R. station, on the west bank of the lake, 

 about ten miles south of the Kentucky line. 



