BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
101 
more abundant. Their numbers during migration do not indicate 
approaching extinction, but they are apparently leaving us for a more 
satisfactory realm somewhere to the northward, quite possibly in the 
newly cleared portions of northern Maine. We cannot blame them for 
deserting us. English Sparrows pre-empt their former nesting places 
in hollow trees and bird-houses, and if they find a shelter and build a 
nest, it is too often despoiled by boys as soon as the eggs are laid. 
Three years ago I put out a dozen nesting boxes on the college prop- 
erty, hoping to induce more Bluebirds to spend the summer here. I 
visited them at times to learn the success of my undertaking ; at first, 
I had to climb, but before long, an egg collector got to making the 
rounds also, and after that I had only to see if the roof was on, to be 
sure that a box had not been occupied. 
