Bulletin No. 12. 7 



the normal traits, neither of which have I seen duplicated in the eight 

 years succeeding. Both the enactors belong to the Sparrow family. 

 The first may be easily explained on the score of heredity ; the second is 

 not so easy, as the motive is not so evident, possibly owing to my lack of 

 personal knowledge of the habits of the bird in its summer home. 



On June 22, '88, I discovered an undersized nest of the Chipping 

 Sparrow, six feet above the ground on a dead and exposed branch of a 

 peach tree. The bird sitting on two small young, almost let me put 

 my hand on her before she cast herself off and down upon the ground, 

 there fluttering along in exactly the manner of a Vesper Sparrow when 

 flushed from her young. She soon came back and rested on a branch 

 quite near me. Some of our tree-nesting Thrushes will sometimes 

 go through similar antics upon being startled from their nests, especially 

 when they have newly hatched young. Does not this point toward 

 strictly terrestial proclivities of the parent stock ? In all the cases I can 

 recall, where the various species of a family nest indifferently on the 

 ground or above it, the latter is unquestionably the advancement, either 

 from the increase and variety of sites or the superior cunning and craft 

 requisite to construct it. 



The second incident occurred on October 4th of the same year. A 

 White-throated Sparrow, skulking close up to a row of bean stalks, came 

 out almost under my feet and ran for some distance in advance of me before 

 flushing to a bush where it sat scolding me in so earnest a manner that I 

 instinctively began search for its nest, which of course was not found. I 

 repassed the same spot three or four times during the course of the after- 

 noon and presumably the same bird repeated this performance every 

 time. I cannot reconcile its presence and actions at this particular spot 



to a desire for either food or shelter. 



Frank L. Burns, Berzcyu, Pa. 



Notes from Cincinnatus, N. Y. Pileated Woodpecker, Ceophloeus 

 foleatus. On September 30, a fine female Pileated Woodpecker was 

 brought me, and on October 26 I secured a male bird. Ten years ago 

 this bird was almost unknown in this section but is now a fairly common 

 resident, known to breed here. I know of at least a dozen being killed 

 in this vicinity in the last three years. 



American Goshawk, Accifter atricafiilhis. — October 24, a female 

 American Goshawk was brought me. As far as I am aware this is the 

 first record of the occurrence of this species in this immediate vicinity. 

 The bird was killed in Chenango county about two miles from the Cort- 

 land county line. 



