80 
during the summer of 1903 I was surprised to see the robins, 
etc., continually building new nests. They would no sooner 
have a nest finished and eggs laid, than they would be at 
work on a new one, usually in the same tree, the first one 
having been abandoned and the eggs missing. One day in 
passing through the orchard I saw some robins fluttering and 
scolding about one of the nests, and, being interested, tried 
to see the cause of the trouble. I found there was a red 
squirrel sitting on the edge of the nest, devouring the eggs 
as calmly as possible. I had noticed previously that a pair 
of red squirrels made their home in a hole in one of the 
trees, and saw that they were undoubtedly the cause of the 
depleted nests. I killed the squirrels, and there was no 
more trouble.” (I. C. Horton.) 
“ Some five years ago I noticed that some species of birds 
were decreasing in a certain small piece of woodland that I 
look over pretty carefully, and the many rifled nests con- 
vinced me the red squirrels were doing the mischief. I 
started a campaign after them, and from that time until the 
present have shot them on sight. During this time have 
caught them in the act of rifling robins’ and catbirds’ nests, 
and with fledglings in their mouths; also found egg shells 
around squirrels’ nests on the ground. On one occasion 
saw a pair of robins catch a red squirrel at their nest, and 
with the help of others drive him from it and chase him to 
cover. An egg had been taken from this nest, which I found 
on the ground uninjured, where he evidently dropped it in 
flight. For some time I had another robin’s egg, dropped 
by a red squirrel, that had been neatly punctured ready to 
suck.” (F. C. Dodge.) 
“ In the spring of 1896 my attention was first drawn to 
the red squirrels robbing birds’ nests. In the early morning 
I have repeatedly seen the red squirrels going from tree to 
tree, hunting for birds’ nests. If these nests contained 
young birds, they were taken out and eaten by the squirrels. 
The birds around our place decreased rapidly, and the squir- 
rels increased. Catbirds, which had begun to nest around 
here in numbers, as the locality apparently suited them, 
were entirely driven off, and no longer build nests here. I 
