Bui lei in No. fj. 21 



careful attention to the supposed flocks of Goldfinches will settle this 

 point. 



Mr, Wayne also reports a nest with 'two eggs very much addled, of the 

 Bald Eagle, February 3, 1897. 



Lynds Jones, ObeHin, Ohio. 



Mr. James Newton Baskett sends the following interesting letter : 

 You ask for a note, or so. I can only say that I am much surprised 

 that the fly-catching habit of the Red-headed Woodpecker should be 

 noted as anything new, as stated in Bulletin 7, page 5, since it has been 

 familiar to me all my life. I am sure there must be some mistake about 

 Dr. Merriam being the first to observe this or even note it, since I am 

 impressed with having seen it of record somewhere, before we had an 

 Agricultural Department. In the South the boys have a trick of hurling 

 a small stone almost vertically upward past the woodpecker's perch (when 

 they note him at the aerial flycatching) and he will sometimes fly at the 

 stone in its descent and be so stunned by it as to fall. 



So, likewise, the foster brother act, noted by Mr. W. L. Dawson, 

 Bulletin 10, page 4, is not so rare as thought. I have seen Redbirds 

 and others assisting other species of birds in feeding their young. In a 

 cage in my own family, a Redbird (Cardinal) of the year took charge at 

 once of an orphan canary placed with him, and fed it all its food. He 

 was in every respect quite motherly, and the canary, besides it own song, 

 learned that of its foster brother. See similar instance of wren in Osfrey, 

 January, 1897. 



James Newton Baskett, Mexico, Missouri. 



THE SWALLOW REPORT 



It is a pleasure to me to extend my sincere thanks to the many persons, 

 members and others (and why not members ?), who have so kindly aided 

 me in my work with notes and suggestions. My correspondence has been 

 so great and my time so limited that I have failed to answer many of the 

 letters. In addition to those answered I have received valuable notes 

 from Joseph Grinnell, Horace A. Gaylord, C. D. McLouth, George 

 D. Peck, J. Eugene Law and N. Hollister, who would have received 

 prompt thanks but for the rush of business. I need notes particularly 

 from the Middle and Gulf states and Canada. Please send in what notes 

 you now have on hand and gain as many more as possible this season 



