March 23, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
453 
KELP FISHES. 
From a photograph of living specimens. Showing characteristic attitude, with tails up, adapting 
their positions to that of the kelp—Sugar Loaf Rocks, Avalon Bay, California. 
length of the body and resemble the ragged edges 
jbf the kelp, some idea of the remarkable nature 
rof this resemblance can be imagined. I do not 
recall a fish that is colored or marked in so 
curious a manner. The color scheme runs even 
through the eyes, and at times resembles a beau- 
!jtiful green and white mosaic. The fish is not 
'.adapted for rapid swimming; it reclines and 
drifts, and while it can swim or dart ahead 
quickly, it prefers to rest or lean against a kelp 
! ,eaf, rolling its curious eyes about in a singular 
manner. 
Scores of fishes might be said to find protection 
in this way, but none illustrate the possibilities of 
protective resemblance so vividly as do the kelp 
tishes of California waters. 
Charles F. Holder. 
The Song Sparrow. 
This little sparrow is one of the best known 
1 song birds of New England, and in his different 
forms is a great favorite throughout the United 
1 States. His cheery spring song is gladly heard, 
and his sprightly little figure welcome when he is 
first seen about the yard, and in the thickets and 
hedges that line the streets and roads. He is 
no respecter of persons, but lends his cheery 
presence and sings as beautiful and cheerfully 
i to the poor as to the rich, under every environ¬ 
ment. (See illustration, page 455 -) 
In this cold northeasternmost State the song 
! sparrow is one of the earliest arrivals in spring. 
1 coming to us about the middle of March, and a 
few days after their arrival on the coast, they 
are as common in the interior, and are soon gen- 
f erally distributed; more so than almost any other 
bird that visits us. Go where you will, except, 
perhaps, into the deep woods or large swamps, 
and you are sure to find this cheery little fellow 
ever present. About the outskirts of the large 
1 or small cities, where there is brush or thicket 
for him to visit, about the smaller villages, about 
I the farmyards, in the openings and cuttings 
bordering the deeper woods, along the banks of 
brook, stream, river, pond or lake, the song spar- 
! row makes his home. So if we go far back into 
! the interior, to the lumber camps and clearings, 
this same little song sparrow is there, and as 
cheerful and sprightly in the one locality as the 
1 other. Ever and anon he mounts to the top of 
i some low stub or fence post and gives utterance 
I to one of his many and varied songs. Then he 
darts to some thick clump of bushes or brush- 
: heap, which he seems to love dearly, hopping 
i from bush to twig and creeping mouse-like, much 
; after the manner of that little midget, the winter 
wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), through the densest 
brush-piles, quickly to appear on the further side, 
where he pauses a moment to see if we are fol¬ 
lowing him, and occasionally gives his call note, 
“Kib, kib!” that reminds us just a little of the 
( alarm note of the aforesaid winter wren. Then 
[ he flits on a few feet to the next brush-pile, 
! where he repeats his former maneuvers, occa- 
1 sionally stopping to gather in some tempting 
( morsel of food, a snail or small insect, or some 
i grass and weed seeds, which abound in such 
1 places as he loves to frequent. 
With those who spend the greater part of their 
1 life along our coast, he is an especial favorite; 
for no matter where their calling takes them, 
whether along the beautiful and rugged coast, or 
; to the most isolated islands, they are sure to find 
| this little bit of comfort, and desolate as the spot 
j may be in the earlier spring, yet he gushes forth 
his melody and lends cheerfulness to the roar of 
;.old ocean. . 
When the warm rays of an April sun have 
1 driven away the snow and coaxed out the early 
I spring flowers, the song sparrows begin to select 
I a site to rear their young. It would take much 
1 space to describe the various nesting sites chosen 
j by these birds. I have, several times, found them 
late in April nesting in an old apple orchard, in 
some natural cavity, to which they had carried 
■ample nest material, and had built their nest and 
'laid their four or five eggs in just such a site as 
; we find the bluebird occupying. 
I have found them using such cavity nests, only 
j in the early spring, choosing such a place, per- 
| haps, because the ground so recently covered 
j with snow is too wet and they fear to lay their 
eggs too near it. At this early time, they some¬ 
times choose to build a neat, compact nest in 
some brush-heap, placed well in from the outer 
surface, so it is difficult to see it without a care¬ 
ful search for it. 
Here with us, short as is our delightful sum¬ 
mer, they rear two and three broods. Some of 
the first nests, and the second nests, are usually 
placed on the ground, beneath some projecting 
root of an old stump or in a dense clump of 
bushes, quite frequently an evergreen, and well 
concealed from view. The song sparrow is fond 
of the water, and one is sure to find many such 
nests in May or June along the shores that 
border our inland ponds and streams. Then, too, 
he builds a very neat, compact nest, well lined 
with hair and small roots, in the fork of a small 
evergreen, usually a spruce or fir balsam, rang¬ 
ing from two to ten or twelve feet from the 
ground, the site in this case being very similar 
to that chosen by his relative, the chipping spar¬ 
row, when nesting in some old pasture or cutting 
bordering the woods. When they elect to rear 
the third brood, in July, we sometimes find their 
nest, very bulky of leaves and weed stalks, well 
lined with fine, new-mown bay, and an inner 
lining of horse hairs, usually placed in some low 
bush, very rarely an evergreen, not far from 
the ground. Four and five eggs seem to make 
up the complement with the first nests, four 
seems to be the rule with the second, and three 
is all I have ever seen in the third nests of the 
season. The bird shows a strong attachment to 
its home and does not easily desert it. 
The manner of nesting in a hole in a tree above 
described I have never heard mentioned or seen 
described, except in Davis’ “Nests and Eggs. 
In the case of a nest found the first days in May, 
several years ago, the birds selected a cavity, 
often used by a pair of bluebirds, in an old apple 
tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. The 
nest was completed and three eggs were de¬ 
posited, but the limb above the cavity was de¬ 
cayed inside, being badly eaten by worms and 
wood ants, leaving but an outer shell. The heart 
■of the limb above the nest was filled with the 
loose debris left by the ants and worms. This 
loose material ran down and filled the nest in a 
short time, completely covering the eggs. But 
after a few days these stout-hearted, dauntless 
little birds, seeing that no more of the decayed 
wood was coming down into the cavity, began 
carrying nest material and completed a slight 
nest, laid four eggs and reared their young with¬ 
out further annoyance. Who shall say that this 
pair of small birds did not reason about their 
misfortune and what followed it? Certainly not 
any one who has been a careful observer of 
nature! 
Twice late in July I have found the third nest 
of this bird in the following unique situation. 
The nest was placed in the side of a hay-mow 
near the top, on the new-mown hay, in the bay 
of an old barn, unoccupied, except to put in the 
new hay as it was harvested, to be hauled else¬ 
where when snow came. In both cases the nest 
was composed mostly of the fine, new-made hay, 
upon which it rested. The eggs of this sparrow 
show great variation in size, shape, color and 
markings. 
J. Merton Swain. 
Farmington, Me., March 15. 
A Good Trip for Boys. 
During the coming summer, Mr. J. Alden 
Loring, of Owego, N. Y., purposes to take out 
to the Canadian Rocky Mountains for two 
months a camp of ten boys. The locality chosen 
is in the beautiful mountains of British Colum¬ 
bia, where there is grand scenery and where for 
anyone interested in nature a wonderful number 
of attractions are spread out. 
Here are mountain sheep, a few, and moun¬ 
tain goats in. abundance. Deer, porcupines, the 
whistling marmot, the little ch-ief hare and many 
other small mammals are found; while such 
birds occur as the Franklin’s grouse, harlequin 
duck, the little dipper, raven, magpie, Clark’s 
crow, the white-tailed ptarmigan, and many 
others. There is splendid trout fishing in many 
of the streams. 
Among the special objects of the trip are 
camping in the high mountains, studying nature, 
and photography. The boys will be taught some¬ 
thing about the work of the camp, and thus 
learn woodcraft. The more camp work each 
boy is taught the better it will be for him. 
Mr. Loring is an able field naturalist and has 
traveled in the western States and in Alaska. 
He is entirely competent to take out such a 
party, look after the boys, and give them the 
instruction which they need. 
