ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 19 



A sudden flash thru the air startled me and one of the robins 

 pounced pell-mell on the cowbird whose head was inside the entrance of 

 the wrens' house. The shock and wrench upon the cowbird's neck 

 must have been terrible for she escaped with difficulty and dropped 

 clumsily in the high grass in Mr. Blank's yard. 



I cannot help thinking that this bird planned her invasion with the 

 care of a safeblower and her sneaking actions showed she appreciated 

 she was doing wrong. 



May 13. Tramped twenty-three miles today, out past the Old 

 Stone Bridge. In the creek above Dyer Springs I scared a mother 

 towhee off her nest. She played cripple, but I quickly found the nest 

 slightly covered with an arch of grass. There were three native fresh 

 eggs and one cowbird egg. Discovered a cardinal red bird nest near 

 the cress beds in a clump of buckbrush with one native egg, two cow- 

 bird eggs. Found a cardinal nest in a small juniper tree. A solitary 

 cowbird nearly grown was the only occupant of the nest. Found a 

 deserted phoebe's nest at the cliff at Pape's mill with one cowbird egg 

 in it. Found one cardinal nest in buckbrush on top of Buzzards' Roost 

 cliff with three native eggs and one cowbird. Found one deserted nest 

 of a chipping sparrow in a juniper tree with a solitary cowbird egg. 

 Flushed a mother field sparrow- from her nest in the lowly fork of a 

 tiny sassafras tree. She acted like a cripple. Upon looking at the 

 nest, I found two native eggs and a cow T bird egg. 



Summary. Altho I do not collect eggs or nests, yet upon my Sun- 

 day tramps I discover many nests and take many pictures. On this 

 particular day I found more than my average quota of nests but with- 

 out exception they contained the eggs of the cowbird. In all, there 

 were nine native and seven cow T bird eggs. This is a dangerous per- 

 centage. Scarcely ever do I find a cardinal's nest without at least one 

 parasitic egg, while it is also a very common' occurrence to find this 

 spotted egg in the nest of the field and chipping sparrow. I always 

 remove the cowbird's egg when I find it. Generally, I have found, 

 it does not interfere with the continuance of incubation to remove this 

 egg. When it does, I feel that it is better for the parents to desert 

 and build another nest than to have them act as foster parents for the 

 young cowbird which crowds out and starves the rightful offspring. 



Commending the Cat Circular 



Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of The National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, New York, in a letter addressed to Mr. Langdon 

 on Mav 23, savs of the Mavwood Bird Club's cat circular : 



''Thank you for your letter and the broadside on the cat. 

 I have read this and it seems to me it is a most convincing pub- 

 lication. I was exceedingly pleased to find the moderation 

 which runs through it all, for there are many lovers of cats in 

 the country, and it is always well in dealing with this subject 

 not to offend them unnecessarily. This I think you have done 

 admirably, and I hope it may be given wide circulation." 



