ed. querulously among themselves. The mothers are 
leaving their "broods to shift for themselves now 
and they object. Their loud calls of jay will be 
deard for the next two months as they call for 
their parents to come and feed them again. 
^ Black cherries are not quite ripe yet. Noth- 
ti'g but catbirds are eating them. Saw several 
t^Own thrashers and catbirds eating choke cherries; 
®dl that I saw were immature. The thrashers 
had very short bills. Near Seeley’s plum orchard 
or 10 song sparrows whirled up and flew one at a 
t&e with absurdly tilting tails into the bushes. 
SEPTEMBER 
September 5, 1905 - Saturday. 
This morning after breakfast I went over to 
he millpond. As 1 came to the dam a pied-billed 
Srebe swam out and following it came another. 1 
r aised the gun slowly and both dove. The first did 
n °t show itself until across the pond but the 
® 6c ond came nearly in the same place. I shot imme- 
< bately with a charge of No. 6 shot and v/hen thte 
fnoke rolled away it lay on the water. Later I saw 
Wo others but they were so quick that at about 15 
r °ds I could not hit one before it dove. The 
8 »omach of the first was filled with water weeds. 
September 15, 1902 - Sunday. 
This morning I went down' by Leiders bridge, 
flock of 15 or 20 rose-breasted grosbeaks, mostly 
T^les were feeding on the seeds of a tall weed 
hat grew along the river. Its name was iron weed, 
be birds were silent except for an occasional low 
pe re ; The usual call of the young bird. The 
e Qds were pretty well cleaned out. They were tame 
^bh so quiet that they would hardly be noticed. One 
r two were generally in sight but the rest kept 
p y° Wn in the thicker growth. The males chased the 
°Ung ones away with open beaks when they came too 
^ar. 
