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Bird -Lore 



and a half, at times at a distance of less 

 than ten feet ; May 6, 7 and 14, Golden- 

 winged Warbler; May 10, 14, 15 and 21, 

 Nashville Warbler, — heard singing on the 

 first two occasions; May ic, 14 and 15, Bay- 

 breasted Warbler ; May 10, Mourning 

 Dove ; May 10 and 14, Gray - cheeked 

 Thrush ; May 13, Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, White- 

 crowned Sparrow ; May 28, Mourning 

 Warbler. 



Near Leonia, N. J. — April 17, Pigeon 

 Hawk, Duck Hawk, American Pipit ; 

 August 21, Sora Rail. 



Near Grantivood, N. J. — May 15, Yel- 

 low-bellied Flycatcher ; July 10, Tufted 

 Titmouse. 



Near Engleivood, N. J. (Woodland 

 avenue and Mountain road). — July 10, 

 Kentucky Warbler, Carolina Wren. 



Bronx Park. — June 8, Cooper's Hawk; 

 June 10, Broad-winged Hawk, Lawrence's 

 Warbler. (See this volume of Bird-Lore, 

 p. 131.) 



Coney Island (Manhattan Beach). — June 

 19 and 23, Least Bittern. 



Long Beach, L. I. — July 24, Long-billed 

 Curlew. Two Long-billed Curlews flew 

 by me at a distance of about forty feet and 

 at an altitude of about fifteen feet. When 

 I first saw them they were flying directly 

 toward me, but my presence caused them 

 to swerve slightly from the original line of 

 their flight. The weather at the time was 

 very stormy — very heavy rain accompanied 

 by a violent southeast wind ; July 3 1 , Rough- 

 winged Swallow, Herring Gull. — Isaac 

 BiLDERSEE, Neiv York City. 



Another Tame Vireo 

 In ' Notes from Field and Study ' of 

 August Bird-Lore, I noticed Mr. S. C. 

 Palmer's account of Tame Vireos. One day 

 last summer I saw a young Red-eyed Vireo 

 sitting on the edge of its nest, about ten feet 

 from the ground. Touching the tree with 

 my hand, the young bird fluttered down to 

 the earth; At that moment the mother-bird 

 returned with food. Wishing to test her 

 courage, I sat down on the ground with my 

 legs apart, and placed the young one be- 

 tween. After flying around a few times, the 



female perched on my shoe and fed the young 

 bird; and afterwards she perched on my leg, 

 just below the knee. I have no doubt that 

 she would, in time, have fed her offspring 

 if I had put him in my hand. But after she 

 had fed him from my leg, I put the young- 

 one on a branch, and left him to his mother's 

 care, as both were frightened. — C. L. Barn- 

 well, Bar Harbor, Maine. 



A Pair of W^ood Pewees 



' Mr. Henry Hales' interesting account ofl 

 the intelligence of a pair of Cliff Swallows! 

 in the construction of their nest, recalls to I 

 my mind an incident which came under my 

 observation, showing not only considerable 

 apparent reasoning power in birds, but 

 much paternal devotion as well. 



In the heated summer of 1901, a pair of 

 Wood Pewees built their nest near the end 

 of a limb of an oak tree in our lawn. The 

 nest happened to be so situated that for 

 about two hours of the hottest portion of the 

 day the sun shone directly upon it. Dur- 

 ing those hours, one of the birds — my wife 

 said of course it was the mother, and I pre- 

 sume she was right — was always found 

 above the nest with wings extended, so a& 

 to shade the little ones from the sun. The 

 sun was usually so intense that we almost 

 always found the bird with open mouth 

 panting in the sun. The punishment must 

 have been very severe, and the sacrifice made 

 by the bird would have done honor to a 

 mother of the human race. But the special 

 point is, the action of the bird could not 

 have been prompted by instinct, as I have 

 never seen or heard of a similar instance 

 with birds. The bird must have reasoned 

 that the heat of the direct rays of the sun 

 would destroy her young, and she took that 

 means to preserve them. In the words of 

 Mr. Hales, " It seems to me to be a case 

 for which an unreasoning instinct does not 

 sufficiently account." — G. M. Alves, Hen- 

 derson, Ky. 



[The action noted by our correspondent 

 is probably not uncommon. Herrick's ad- 

 mirable ' Home - Life of Birds ' contains 

 photographs of three specfes shading their 

 young with half-spread wings. — Ed.] 



