152 THE CONDOR - Vol. XXI 
Sharp-shinned Hawks were nesting on the wooded hillside across the outlet, a 
family of skunks had its den under the root of a fallen tree hardly 30 yards 
away, snakes were plentiful 
among the sedge, minks and 
weasels passed up and down 
the outlet, and many bare- 
foot boys wended their way 
past the nesting site to the 
fishing holes farther up 
along the shores. The unus- 
ual spring freshets take a 
heavy tol] of the first nest- 
lings and these other agen- 
cies destroy many of the sec- 
ond and third broods; so that 
the number of Merrill Song 
Sparrows are kept at a min- 
imum. 
Very few species of birds 
are to be found in or about 
this haunt during the first 
Fig. 32. YouNG MERRILL SONG SPARROW, 
nesting period of the Song ABOUT FIFTEEN DAYS OLD AND READY TO 
Sparrows. <A few pairs of LEAVE NEST, THERE’ WERE BUT TWO 
Long-tailed Chickadees pass YOUNG IN THIS NEST, WHICH was 48 
through the willows looking YARDS FROM THE NEST SHOWN IN FIGURE 
os . 28. PHOTOGRAPHED May 25, 1918. 
for a promising nesting stub, 
Fig. 338. FOUR OF THE FIVE YOUNG MERRILL SONG SPARROWS FROM THE NEST SHOWN IN FIG- 
URE 28. 
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and there is an occasional pair of Montana Juncos, Western Robins, and now 
and then a flock of Brewer Blackbirds. The mating calls of the Red-shafted 
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