20 THETA DUB ONS B UIE EiienN 
an area comprising not more than 25 or 30 square rods. Some quarrelling 
took place among the males when mating first began. here was a deal 
of singing, too. One bird sang “‘terry-terry-territory,’ but with so many 
birds in so small an area his territory wasn’t much to boast of. 
Most of our lakeside Grackles, making free with the eggs of Chip- 
ping Sparrows and other small birds, are established in a grove of spruces at 
the west end of the lake. I was not prepared, therefore, to find the nest 
of cne in the tall flags on the shore of an adjoining lake. I believe such 
a nesting site is not uncommon where a mixed colony of Redwings and 
Grackles is found; but here there were no other nests of either species. 
This nest differed from a Redwing’s only in size and the condition of being 
unlined. It was late, May 31, for the four slightly incubated eggs it con- 
tained. 
In 1929, and for three or four years before, a Chipping Sparrow’s nest 
had occupied an identical position on the lower branch of an apple-tree. 
Lightly anchored, it was blown away with the leaves each fall. Now, 
having missed four seasons at the lake, I forgot about the matter until the 
several pairs of Chippies about the place began to nest.- But, somehow, 
when I parted the leaves of the apple-tree on May 27, I quite expected the 
nest to be there. And so it was. The two eggs it contained were de- 
stroyed a few days later. It seemed likely that the same spot was used for 
a Chipping Sparrow’s nest for eight or nine consecutive years. I think it 
unlikely that for four years, during which I was not there to see it, it was 
missing from the usual place. 
Red-eyed Vireos are numerous in the woods back from the lake. How 
they can be so, anywhere, being so put upon by Cowbirds, it is hard to 
understand. It is rare, indeed, to revisit an occupied nest of -this species 
and find it unmolested, either by a Cowbird or some other enemy. I found 
a new nest containing a single egg of odd appearance. It was large as a 
Cowbird’s, rough in texture and of a bluish color. Its shape and thin walls 
give it a nearer resemblance to a Vireo’s egg than to a Cowbird’s. In any 
case 1t was abnormal. I could learn nothing further. Next day when I 
visited the nest again the egg was gone. 
One day I heard a song altogether like the Preacher’s lay but it had a 
strange afterpiece. I was puzzled. Finally I located the source and found 
that it was, indeed, a Red-eye, singing its familiar phrase and adding regu- 
larly with emphasis, ‘“chow-chow-chow,”—uttered quickly. It remained 
near by for several days and sang the song often. 
Since my last former visit to the lake there had been an increase in 
the number of Yellow-throated Vireos. In April, before the leaves were 
out, I noticed an old Vireo’s nest some 30 feet up in a tall wild cherry. Its 
position, within the crown of the tree rather than near the extremity of its 
branches, as well as its substantial appearance, were diagnostic. The first 
individuals of this species arrived May 5. Soon after the middle of the 
month building was under way. Later I made several attempts to locate 
