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Bird - Lore 



ihey have finished the nest and seem to 

 be incubating. 



Several questions naturally arise in 

 one's mind in connection with this 

 remarkable affair. Are the birds now 

 occupying the nest the same individuals 

 who were caught in the tangle? Where 

 did the third bird come from so suddenly, 

 that it could stand by and sympatheti- 

 cally watch their struggles for freedom? 

 Was it possible for one of these birds to 

 gather up twelve feet of this cord and 

 carry it the length of the lot to the box- 

 elder, or did both the birds tackle the 

 job in concerted action? If one bird 

 carried the cord alone, how or when did 

 the other bird "get into the game?" It 

 certainly would have been an interesting 

 thing to have been able to watch these 

 birds from the time they found the cord 

 till I found them in their helpless predica- 

 ment. — E. D. Nauman, Sigourney, Iowa. 



A Yellow Warbler's Nest 



Early in May a member of my house- 

 hold was sitting on a side-porch sewing. 

 Unnoticed, a few small bits of the cloth 

 and edging on which she was at work 

 were blown into the grass a foot or two 

 away. 



Her attention was called to them by 

 seeing a Yellow Warbler, who came closer 

 and closer to these bits of cloth and 

 edging, and while watching her, took 

 them, one at a time, into a hedge of lilac 

 and syringa bushes, a few feet distant. 



This suggested that he was building 

 and wanted material for his nest, and to 

 meet this need still further, bits of cotton 

 were put on a fence-post that was under 

 the lilac bush. 



Although the bird was not in sight 

 when this was done, as soon as one was a 

 foot or more away, he would come to the 

 post, look at her and go off with the 

 cotton. 



This was repeated several times a day 

 for three or four days, and when he ceased 

 to take it, we knew no more was needed. 



Weeks went on and the little family 

 were reared and the nest abandoned, but 



it was most interesting to see with what 

 skill it had been made. 



Woven in with the dried grasses, hair 

 and roots, were the cotton, the white 

 cambric and the Hamburg edging. 



The birds remained near us, enjoying 

 the raspberries and the bird-bath, and 

 we hope to welcome them another year, 

 having had ample evidence that the 

 Yellow Warbler is grateful for help and 

 glad to be friendly. — E. J. Luther, Milton, 

 Mass. 



Nesting; of the Carolina Wren 



Readers of Bird-Lore may be inter- 

 ested in knowing that this summer we 

 had two Carolina Wren's nests built on 

 the concrete piers under our porch. 

 Between the piers are heavy wire screens. 

 Several tiny crevices where the frames do 

 not come quite to the ground served as 

 the way for the birds to get in and out. 

 The Wrens became as tame as the House 

 Wren, and were a great pleasure. The 

 nests were built of grass, moss and leaves, 

 and were both arched over with the open- 

 ing on the side While we have delighted 

 in their songs the three years we have 

 lived here, they have been so shy, that, 

 although singing constantly in trees close 

 to the house, we were never able to get 

 a good view of them before. They started 

 singing this year while the snow was still 

 on the ground. During July they were 

 especially musical. From four o'clock in 

 the morning until sunset hardly a half 

 hour would pass that we were not treated 

 to one of their many different songs. We 

 are hoping for a whole colony of Carolinas 

 under our porch next year. A barberry 

 hedge that has been planted on the three 

 sides of the house will make it a still more 

 secluded and desirable place. — Mary 

 Giles Blunt, Gaithersburg, Maryland. 



Bluebirds in Minnesota 



Noticing the communication in Bird- 

 Lore regarding the scarcity of Bluebirds in 

 certain parts of the country I thought it 

 might be of interest to bird-lovers to 



