32 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



Olney 



The winter which has just closed was not very remarkable, 

 except for the unusual mildness of the month of January, which 

 was far more springlike than March, the latter being the most 

 stormy and unspringlike of any since we have lived here. Like 

 every other, however, the winter has been more or less peculiar 

 in respect to the birds which have or have not been with us. 

 The Killdeer, usually here all winter, was entirely absent until 

 the second of March. There were few White-crowned and White- 

 throated Sparrows and Juncos ; no Fox Sparrows, nor Chewinks. 

 On the other hand there were more Grackles, Robins and Doves 

 than usually winter with us. Other birds were present in about 

 their normal numbers. 



At this writing, March 22, Doves are nesting; they and the 

 Flickers had paired by the seventh of the month. The Doves 

 commenced cooing February 18; a male Cardinal was seen feed- 

 ing a female, a sure sign that they had paired, on March 11. 

 Bluebirds were inspecting the nesting boxes about March 15. 

 The Brown Thrasher came about on schedule time, March 16. 



While feeding, different species of birds present many pe- 

 culiarities of behavior toward one another. When feeding to- 

 gether in numbers, only the English Sparrow and the Quail do 

 so in perfect peace. All other kinds quarrel more or less, es- 

 pecially the "peaceful" Dove, one of which will not, during the 

 mating season, allow another of the same sex to feed near by, 

 persistently chasing it away, and if resisted, the two fighting 

 savagely. But, when they are through feeding I have seen them 

 all sitting on the ground together in perfect harmony. In the 

 case of the Chickadee (Carolina) and Tufted Titmouse, I have 



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Photo by J. Evelyn Ridgway 



BROWN THRASHER'S NESTING PLACE— BRUSH PILE COVERED WITH 



MORNING GLORIES 



