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Bulletin of the 



In house No. 3, 39 young and two old birds were found dead. A total of 80 

 birds. 



About forty nests contained eggs on this date, most of which hatched 

 shortly after the cold rains ceased and numerous young came out between 

 July 18th and 25th. 



Evidently all the unfortunate parents, who lost their broods, hatched 

 out new ones as many of them were rebuilding their nests a few days after 

 their misfortune, and on August 10th there were twelve broods of young in 

 house Xo. 3 which had contained eleven or twelve nests full of dead birds 

 in June, and in house No. 2 there was a corresponding number of young 

 while no late broods came out of box Xo. 4. which contained only eggs at 

 the time of the rains. 



MARTIN HOUSE.. No. 4. 



I visited other bird-houses in and near town and found the same dis- 

 tressing conditions existed. In a number of cases the decomposing young 

 were removed and the old birds rebuilt and hatched broods. One instance, 

 however, differed from the rest : in this the whole colony moved from an old 

 to a newly erected box a few hundred yards distant. The dead birds, how- 

 ever, had been left in the old box. 



A singular fact is that after so many young birds died last year, none 

 of the old birds rebuilt, but my personal observations this year show that 

 nearly if not all the unfortunate parents brought out late broods. This may 

 be accounted for by this year's misfortune occurring at hatching time, while 

 in the previous instance the young were just beginning to leave their nests. 



Waynesburg, Pa.. Nov. 5, 190$. 



