General Notes. 
Chats reared by Song Sparrows. — On June S, 1894, while collecting 
about three miles north of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess Co., N. Y., I found a 
nest of the Chat ( Icteria Virens') containing a set of four eggs. They 
were packed away with some others I had collected and taken home, but 
on attempting to blow one I found that they were heavily incubated, the 
embyro being so large that it would have been impossible to remove it. 
In a small hedge near the house at which I was staying was a nest of the 
Song Sparrow {Melospiza fasciata) containing a set of four very pretty 
eggs, but I did not like to rob the bird, as it was quite tame, and I had 
watched the building of the nest with a good deal of interest; so I 
thought of a scheme by which I could obtain the set and still give Melos- 
piza a brood to rear. I removed the eggs (which were perfectly fresh) 
and substituted those of Icteria, which had been without warmth for 
| several hours; but, contrary to my expectations, they all hatched by the 
13th, and the young birds were tenderly cared for by their foster mother 
until they left the nest about three weeks later. The young Chats grew 
so rapidly that they completely filled the nest in a short time, and it was 
a curious sight to see the mother feeding or endeavoring to cover with 
her wings her three charges, who were fully as large as she. 
This experiment proves that Melospiza fasciata will rear a brood of 
totally different and much larger birds, whose eggs hatched a long time 
before her own would have. And also that Icteria virens will live on the 
same food as Melospiza, for we can hardly suppose Melospiza to have 
been intelligent enough to collect the same food for the young birds as 
their own mother would have done. To me it is an interesting subject 
and I intend to try other similar experiments next spring. — Curtis C. 
Young, Brooklyn, JV. T. 
Auk XII. Jan. 1895 p. 82-88 
Queer Actions of a Song Sparrow. 
BY C. C. MAXFIELD, WILLARD, N. Y. 
During the early summer of the year 1885, 
while cultivating potatoes, I nearly filled a 
Song Sparrow’s {Melospiza melodia) nest with 
loose earth thrown up by my cultivator. The 
nest was built near a tuft of a plant, called 
sheep sorrel by farmers, and was nearly con- 
cealed. I had no idea of there being a nest 
near me until 1 saw the female pass almost di- 
rectly between the teeth of the cultivator. I 
then stopped work and began looking around. 
The nest, which I soon found, had passed, to- 
gether with the tuft of sorrel, between the two 
outer teeth of the machine, but neither had 
been injured. As I stooped down near the nest 
the old bird flew from the fence a couple of 
rods away and alighted on the ground near me, 
fluttering up with a great show of feathers^ 
very much as the old bird usually does when 
she is disturbed upon her nest, until she was 
quite near my hand which 1 had extended tow- 
ards the nest. She would rise and fly at my 
hand, seeming to believe that it was the only 
S 1 thing that would harm herself or nest. In fly- 
ing around she actually passed between my 
feet several times as I was seated on the 
ground beside the nest. I waited by the side 
of the nest fully twenty minutes but the bird 
did not offer to leave, but was, nearly the whole 
time, within two or three feet of me. I touched 
; her several times with the index finger of my 
hand by moving it slowly to her, but she would 
only turn and strike at it and slowly back out 
of reach. 
I visited the nest several times during the 
next two or three hours, but she was always 
there and would not leave the nest until I had 
placed my finger under her and raised her 
from it. 
Each morning afterwards, for a week or 
more, I visited the nest regularly. She would 
nearly always be sitting upon it and would not 
leave until I had pushed her from it, and on 
one occasion she, instead of being pushed off' to 
the ground, placed her feet upon my finger and 
I pecked at it while standing upon it. Then 1 
pointed one of the fingers of my other hand at 
her and she turned upon it, much resembling 
an enraged canary. In a short time I acciden- 
tly moved the hand she was perched upon 
and she jumped to the ground. Never after 
phis did she venture to sit upon my hand. 1 
watched her for some time with the same re- 
sults, but finally left her to her family. 
The nest was built of the usual straw and hay 
outside and lined with line roots, as I have 
nearly always found to be the case where the 
nests of this species is placed upon cultivated 
ground. 
At the time I first saw her, the nest contained 
four eggs. They were rather dark, but I think 
they were about the usual dimensions of this 
species’ eggs. 1 did not disturb the bird or 
nest on account of the strange actions noticed, 
but in a few days I found young birds in the 
nest. 
Has anyone noted any similar experience 
with any bird of this species? As for myself, 
I am totally unable to account for the actions 
of this one. 
i C. it cm trC. *2 . 
A i ff. e+s, I c . 
... 
ic 
O.&O. XIII. Feb. 1 888 p, % 9 . 
Bull. N, O.O. 5. Jan., 18 80. £.37 
The number for January,. 1876 (Yol. X) contains a note on the “Proper 
Specific Name of the Song Sparrow” (pp. 17, 18), by David Scott, who 
claims for this species the name fasciata, Gmelin, 1788, in place of melodia, 
Wilson, 1810, the probable tenability of which had been previously sug- 
gested by Other writers./ Amer. Naturalist, Vol, 10, J an. 
1019. [ A Prolific Pair of Song Sparrozvs.~\ By Clark. Ibid ., 
No. 10 , p. 3 . Band. Notes Nat. Hie, ft vat. t. 
r 1461. Immaculate Eggs of Song Sparrows. By J. N. Clark. Ibid, j 
No. I, Jan., 1886, p. 8. Rand. Notes Nat. M-t 
1699. The Song Sparrow . By Ernest E. Thompson. Ibid., April 19, 
p. 244. — Plan for investigating its life history. i 'Or, "V Ol» 30 
vf 
