36 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



I did not go to the nest immediately, wishing to watch the 

 mother bird. She was in a nearby tree, not particularly per- 

 turbed, but calling to her young in a very sweet, high note, that 

 sounded rather ventriloquistic, a constant call that one could 

 easily imagine was "baby, baby, baby, sweet baby, babe, baby." 

 When I finally looked into the nest she stopped her call entirely 

 and was silent, probably was more perturbed, but did not show 

 it outwardly by sound or motion of any kind. The male was not 

 in evidence. Perhaps it was a widow's home. 



In the same tree, not ten feet distant was the nest of a 

 cedar waxwing, about 15 feet from the ground. The bird was 

 setting or at least covering her young. I could not see in. This 

 nest also had the same cotton-wood cotton dabs on its exterior. 

 In an adjoining hawthorn, about 20 feet up, is a robin's nest 

 with the usual white rag in its make up. One parent bird was 

 feeding angle worms to its young and the other was going to 

 a nearby wild grape vine and gathering grapes, several at a 

 time which it apparently swallowed, but perhaps it fed them 

 to the young later, merely "half swallowing" them for the pur- 

 pose of carrying them. I picked up a robin on the ground, not 

 yet able to fly, as its feathers were not yet large enough, and I 

 am sure it was one from the same nest, which had escaped a 

 little earlier than its brothers. 



On my way out I observed that the young from a cedar 

 waxwing's nest in my back yard were just out of the nest. One 

 of the young was sitting on a wire fence trying to balance it- 

 self. Its feathers were still too short for much flying. Its wings 

 looked dark, its back was grayish, it had the black line through 

 the eye, and the tip of its little tail (it was not a quarter of an 

 inch long) showed golden. The mother was much worried at 

 our presence and was hovering in front of it with a red berry 

 in her mouth, (either one of my very ripe currants or a wild 

 cherry not yet ripe) trying to induce it to fly to a safer place. I 

 watched the construction of this nest which was started July 

 second. It took a week to build, the birds being very leisurely 

 about it, doing a little work every morning, and both assisting. 

 Waxwings are real helpmates to each other, in all their married 

 activities, always being close together, and one adult often feed- 

 ing the other. There are no brawls or rolling pins in their home 

 life and no back talk, unless it is in the sign language, for there 

 is never a note out of them except the familiar beady one that 

 is hardly audible. This nest also had the cottonwood dabs on 

 its outside. 



I noticed last Sunday, August _fifth, that the first assem- 

 bling of martins was being held on a telegraph wire in my back 

 yard. Each year this occurs about this time and the number is 

 about 32, I presume it is the adults and their families that live 

 in the nearest martin house, say about five pairs and their new- 

 ly raised young of about four or five per family. A little later 



