260 Bird - Lore 



The Robin 



A year ago this spring, two Robins built their nest in one of our apple- 

 trees. The first thing they did was to take some twigs and make the frame- 

 work by twining them together. They next took some mud from our flower- 

 beds, which had recently been watered. Then they took some ravelings which 

 I had put out. One day I saw four blue eggs in the nest. Then the mother 

 Robin sat on the eggs for about fifteen days. 



As I was looking out of the window one morning, I saw that the mother 

 Robin was not on the nest, but in it were four baby Robins waiting for mother 

 and father to bring them their breakfast. 



One day mother and I heard the old Robins making a great fuss. We 

 went out and saw a baby Robin on the ground, and a strange cat was trying 

 to catch it. We put the baby back in the tree and drove the cat away. After 

 that, I threw out bread crumbs every morning. — Marion Bouldrey (aged 

 10) Fourth grade, Concord, Mich. 



[Careful observation and an interesting account. The cat might well have been 

 killed, if it had no responsible owner. When cats are licensed properly, like dogs, there 

 ought to be fewer strays around to molest birds. — A. H. W.J 



Notes on the Downy Woodpecker and Carolina Wren 



On August 24th, as I was sitting on my veranda, I heard a strange note 

 from a China-ball tree. Then I saw a small bird fly into a silver-leafed maple. 

 The bird was a male Downy Woodpecker. He was sitting on a small dead 

 limb, making the bark fly, and eating the insects as he ran about. I noticed 

 him eating ants, chinch-bugs and caterpillars more than anything else. He 

 used a peculiar call-note — cheep — repeated at intervals of about five minutes. 



On the 26th, I saw another, which acted in the same manner as the first. 

 I also saw a pair of Carolina Wrens with two young. The latter were very 

 pert-looking, and one concealed itself so well that I could not distinguish it 

 from the bare ground, and came near stepping on it. — Maurice B. Emmich 

 (age n), Vicksburg, Miss. 



[The squeaky note of the Downy Woodpecker is probably not commonly associated 

 with this species as often as the more familiar "roll" and drumming notes. Compare 

 the notes of the young in the nest-hole with those of the adult. Although the chinch- 

 bug is not given in ordinary diet-lists of Downy Woodpeckers, it is not improbable that 

 this insect, which is such a pest in the corn- and wheat-fields of the Mississippi Valley, 

 should now and then fall a victim to this industrious bird. If the Downy will sample 

 the fruit of the mulberry, as the writer has observed, it may quite likely relish a 

 chinch-bug when one happens in its way. — A. H. W.] 



Practical Home Protection of Birds 



I am inclosing two photographs for Bird-Lore. They are both of Wood 

 Thrushes, one with its young, and were taken by myself last summer (191 2). 



