8 



Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



NOTES. 



Murderous Red-headed Wood- 

 peckers. 



One afternoon, last summer, while sit- 

 ting quietly in the house, I heard a great 

 chattering, and distressing cries among the 

 birds on the lawn. Hurrying out to in- 

 vestigate the disturbance, I found the 

 Red-headed Woodpeckers waging fierce 

 war on the young Baltimore Orioles. 

 Saw one of the Woodpeckers flapping his 

 wings and striking with his bill, with con- 

 siderable force, something on the ground, 

 which proved to be a young Oriole, just 

 out of the nest. The Orioles succeeded in 

 driving him away once, but he immediate- 

 ly returned and bv the time rescue was at 

 hand the little bird was almost dead. 

 During the battle the Robins and Catbirds 

 kept up an incessant din, but always at a 

 safe distance, apparently thinking the 

 noise they made, sufficient encouragement. 

 The Woodpeckers did not give up the 

 conflict until they had killed all the young 

 Orioles on this four acre lawn, attacking 

 them in the nests, leaving one hanging dead 

 on the e< Ige of the nest. My feelings toward 

 the whole Woodpecker family, since this 

 brutal attack, have been so unpleasant, I 

 quite rejoiced when I learned how quickly 

 the English Sparrows humiliated and 

 banished one of their number that appeared 

 in one of the trees of the city, during the 

 cold weather in January. 



E. O. Kelsey. 



Holm croft, Grosse He. 



Note from Barry County. 



In going to my work every day last 

 summer, 1 used to pass a large elm tree. 

 In this a pair of English Sparrows had 

 taken up their abode, in a hole in a large 

 limb. One morning as I was passing 

 along, I observed a pair of Crow r Black- 

 birds at work destroying the nest. They 

 succeeded in driving the Sparrows away, 

 and in a short time they built in this little 

 hollow a nest of their own, in which they 

 reared four young. 



Gottlieb Bessmer. 



Hastings, Mich. 



men, reported that they had shot a red bird 

 in a swamp in Hillsdale County, on Dec. 

 •Ath. This swamp is located in the 

 northern part of the county. I was 

 anxious to know just what sort of a red 

 bird it could have been, so had the Colonel 

 hunt up the bird and bring it to me. I 

 was very much surprised to find that the 

 bird was a genuine Cardinal Grosbeak, 

 and the fact of its tarrying in this latitude 

 while snow covered the ground is some- 

 thing unheard of by me before. These 

 two sportsmen shot a King Rail in the 

 same locality Dec. 11. 



A. H. Boies. 

 Hudson, Mich. 



It is well known that the Cardinal 

 Grosbeak is occasionally found in northern 

 latitudes in winter, and the fact is an 

 interesting one. May we not have a note 

 from Professor Barrows upon this subject 

 for our next issue '. We are very glad of 

 such notes as these. — Ed. 



Swainson's Hawks and Black 

 Guillemots. 



I wish to report several Swainson's 

 Hawks killed in this county (Wayne). 

 One was killed by John Stocker, near 

 Grosse Point, and hangs in his store 

 window on Russell St. — this is a female 

 in the light plumage ; the other, a male 

 in the dark plumage, was in Campion 

 Bros.' (taxidermists) on Grand River, 

 near 5th St. 



Two Black Guillemots were killed at 

 the St. Claire Elats. One of them is now 

 in the possession of C. Havens, dealer in 

 sporting goods. 



W. A. Davidson. 



Detroit, Mich. 



Cardinal Grosbeak and King Rail, 

 in Winter. 



Colonel Thorn and Mr. Abel Fellows, 

 two of Hudson's most enthusiastic sports- 



How about our Birds in the South? 



This recent cold weather must have had 

 its effect upon the less hardy birds in the 

 south. I noticed that the temperature at 

 Knoxville, Tenn., Avent as low as two 

 degrees below zero. I sincerely hope that 

 there were no Bluebirds in that region. 

 Have the English Sparrows suffered from 

 the cold in your vicinity i 



Lynds Jones. 



Oberlin, Ohio. 



Mr. Hay writes from Texas that it 



"froze a nigger" in Houston. Let us 

 hope the birds were spared. — Ed. 



