an owl got in the tree and. the swallows had to 
seek new quarters* Only a few came hack* 
Erswell followed the rest and found them in a 
tree hack of Weinke's. He cut this down hoping 
they would go hack. The second tree was a hollow 
hasswood in the woods. They then moved to a 
tree on Hintzes which he also cut down. A^ter 
this he gave it up. He told me he thought that 
they still occupied a tree on Hintzes yet. At 
any they did three or four years ago. 
The tree hy his place blew down and he said 
that for thirty-five or forty it was filled with 
droppings and dead swifts. 
December 19. 1903 - Saturda y. 
This morning it was warm with a southwest \ ind 
and the snow was thawing. _ _ 
English sparrows were calling quite as if it 
was spring. The males perched around hy various 
holes and acted as though trying to get mates. 
Y/ent down the track to Alder Swamp. For a 
while I sav; nothing hut chicadees. Then heard 
a familiar chetch, and knew the redpolls were 
around somewHere. The note was occasionally 
shortened to cheche. I looked around for 
awhile and then ran into a flock of five feeding 
on the seeds of the tag~alder. They were so 
quiet that I did not see them until only a few 
feet away. They shifted their position with 
a few soft notes and then began to feed again. 
I shot hut did not get one. Then they flew 
and I went along looking for them. Finally as I 
was about to leave they flew down and began to 
feed again. Here I shot two a male and female. 
The rosy feathers on the breast were narrowly, 
tipped with white. Probably this wears off in 
t]tie* spring. The stomachs were crannied with 
the tiny seeds which were still soft. They seem¬ 
ed to have extracted them from between the scales. 
The bill was covered with a sticky substance which 
covers some seeds. 
