42 THE ALU DU, BO aN, (Bi Ue ieee 
on June 14th along the public highway in front of our place; 
one nest was destroyed by the mower, the second nest was built 
in some poison ivy on a fence post and contained some shells of 
Dickcissels’ eggs and one cowbird egg, and another cowbird egg 
was lying on the ground. The third nest was also built in poison 
ivy on a fence post; it was very well concealed and contained 
four Dickcissel eggs. Most of them built nests again and raised 
some young. On August 3rd, a nest 
? built in a weed under a barbed wire 
m3| fence was found in which there 
; were three large young, and another 
m| pair had built in the top of an ap- 
“a ple tree in front of our house. 
. A pair of Grasshopper Sparrows 
Somes) raised a brood of three young after 
tie) the mower had passed over their 
nest; the nest was built in a depres- 
sion, and on a level with the surface 
of the ground. After we saw one 
Phot thy Richard “Churebill of the birds fly from the nest, we 
marked the location, and were careful not to drive over it with 
the haying tools. 
There were not so many Cliff Swallows here as last year; 
only about 75 nests were built, last year there were over 90. 
On June 23rd, many of the young Swallows were out of their 
nests and sitting on the telephone wires. On the night of July 
7th, something broke and enlarged the entrances of about one 
third of the nests. It probably was a pair of Great Horned Owls 
that broke the nests, as they were heard hooting on a spruce 
tree in front of the house during the night, and they also some- 
times sit on the top of the barn. The owls were probably at- 
tracted to the nests by the squeaking noise which the young 
Swallows made during the night. The next day no Swallows 
were about, and no young could be heard in the nests. Several 
days afterwards some of the Swallows returned and occupied 
some of the nests, and later on raised their second brood of 
young. 
Our Martins raised many young this year, the first ones came 
out of their house on June 30th, and the last ones August 3rd. 
They began to flock and sit on our windmill on July 23rd and 
were all gone by the middle of August. 
The weather was very hot and dry during August and Sep- 
tember. The first half of October was also very dry, with a 
few days of cool weather. The first migrant to come from the 
North was a Solitary Sandpiper on July 17th, and on the eve- 
ning of July 19th a Heron was heard squeaking as it was flying 
southward. On August 15th and 16th a Little Blue Heron stayed 
in the slough back of our barn. It was very tame, and came into 
the barnyard several times and alighted on the buildings. 




