Hee Acre Ub O° NB Uris GRIN 25 
1923, we saw a Rough-legged Hawk twice, so we felt sure we 
could not be mistaken. The same day we saw the Chickadees, 
Tree Sparrows and a Hairy Woodpecker. 
December 24, 1922, I saw a large flock of Geese going north. 
I succeeded in counting seventy-three. Last winter we had a 
number of White-breasted Nuthatches, but this year they did 
not return. This spring we have seen from our own yard, Hairy 
Red-headed and Downy Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Juncos, Mea- 
dowlarks, Cedar Waxwings, Song Sparrow, Bluebirds, Hermit 
Thrush, Tree Sparrows, Robins, Grackles, flocks of Geese, Gol- 
den-crowned Kinglet, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Killdeer Plov- 
ers. We can hardly wait until our Warblers return as we usually 
have most of them right here at home. 
Blue Island 
Mr. Otto Bueter, an ardent devotee of out-of-doors, reports 
the following episode: 
For several years our small “home made” birdhouse has been 
the home of Martins. The house is situated in the center of the 
back yard about eighteen feet above ground on a small post. 
Close by are telephone wires and electric light wires, affording 
very convenient perches. 
The bird-house being on the hill gives it a prominence of about 
forty feet above buildings at the foot of the hill, with an open 
space to the south approximating one hundred feet, trees and 
shrubbery surrounding its base. As the capacity of the house 
seemed taken, from year to year upon storing it for the winter 
to avoid the sparrows filling it up, I added a story until it now 
contains three stories, totaling eighteen compartments. Last 
year I counted fifteen pairs of Martins nesting in it. 
I put the house up on the tenth of April, taking it down on 
the tenth day of August, painting the house each year and mak- 
ing sure that all compartments are tight. The openings are 
placed to one corner on a level with the floor landing. 
One Saturday morning a sudden strong wind blew down the 
house which fortunately landed on a tree, only a few landing 
shelves being broken. My neighbor phoned me what had hap- 
pened, he having a seven compartment bird-house in his yard 
about seventy-five feet to the north, now containing two pairs 
of Martins. 
Arriving home about noon, we hurriedly replaced the broken 
landing shelves and supplying a new post, started to put up the 
bird-house again. It had been raised no more than forty-five 
degrees when two Martins alighted on the house and remained 
until it was upright, and before we could put in the lag bolts a 
dozen or more Martins were back on the house, all lustily telling 
the world that “ALL WAS WELL”. There are now eight pairs 
nesting in the house. 
4 
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