General Notes. 
179 
matter a record in the Bulletin as a contribution to bird psychology. “ We 
often hear,” says the writer, of one-idea people, and the sensations they 
produce. A one-idea bird, however, is something of a novelty. One of 
the windows of a house in Clinton Street is at present haunted by such 
a bird in the shape of a Robin. On the morning of May 21st it made 
its debut from the window-sill. From the first this has been its mode 
of procedure. It alights on the window-ledge, taps vigorously on the 
pane, then flies up and down very rapidly about three or four times. Then 
it pauses a moment, steps over to the next pane, and repeats the operation. 
It has never been observed to tap or fly upon the third pane. After tap- 
ping or flapping industriously for half an hour or so, it descends to the 
ground or garden near by, makes a short repast of a bug or worm, returns 
again to the window-ledge and goes through with the same process. It 
begins its operations early in the morning, and continues until the shadows 
of evening begin to fall. Nothing so far seems to have seriously inter- 
rupted its movements. It flies away when the white shade is drawn 
down, but returns again, walks back and forward across the ledge, and 
peers in at the narrow, uncovered space below the bottom of the shade. 
It never taps or flutters against the window when the shade is drawn. It 
simply looks about, flies away, and returns again, until it finds the shade 
raised. It then repeats its beatings and fluttering as before. If, however, 
the outside blinds are closed, it appears quite frantic. It flies at them, and 
if it can gain a foothold anywhere, it thrusts its beak between the shutters 
and peeks violently at the window until tired out, then it retires and waits 
until they are opened again. It does not seem to be especially shy 
or tame. It flies off at the too near approach of a person, cat, or lawn- 
mower. It returns again as soon as they remove a short distance away. 
Thus has it performed for three days, and shows no signs of giving up. 
“ Its curious persistency has attracted much attention, and called forth 
various remarks. One laughingly says, it must be an evil spirit in bird 
form. Others are inclined to regard it as an ‘ ominous bird.’ One man, 
after watching it for some time, remarked that it saw its shadow in the 
window and mistook it for a lost mate. This seems probable, for on in- 
vestigation it was found that the window, being relieved by a dark back- 
ground, reflected images almost as distinctly as a mirror. It was further 
observed that the wall of the opposite house, with its abundance of vivid 
green foliage, was remarkably well defined, making a bright reflected 
picture, especially in the space covered by the two panes of glass to which 
the bird seemed to limit its attentions. Besides, it seemed entirely alone, 
and the supposition is, that, in searching for its mate, which may have dis- 
appeared in some mysterious way, it happened to see its OAvn solitary 
image in the glass, and straightway imagined it had found its lost one, and 
is earnestly endeavoring to woo it back again. The present appear- 
ances are that it has gone quite daft with sorrow, and will exhaust itself 
with its wild beatings and fluttering.” 
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