ae THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
the opening. Small dead aspens, too, are readily “worked.” In the holes 
made in these, however, white-footed mice are likely to take up their quar- 
ters and it was while investigating these small mammals that, much to my 
chagrin, I opened a Chickadee’s nest. “There were two eggs in it and these 
had been, not merely covered, but, apparently, wrapped up in the “felt” 
forming the nest material. 
As soon as possible I secured a weathered piece of burlap, a strip of 
black rubber (part of a tire tube). With these I bound up the tree; first 
with the rubber so as to exclude light except at the entrance hole; and then 
with the burlap to conceal the rubber patch from any chance investigator. 
Some days later I passed the tree and tapped it gently. No Chickadee. I 
loitered about but at length was obliged to conclude the eggs had been 
deserted. “The next week I tapped again and out popped the proprietor. 
Gratification was short-lived, however. Soon afterward, happening to hear 
a House Wren singing in that part of the woods, I became suspicious. 
Twigs protruded from the Chickadee’s doorway and broken Chickadee’s 
eggs lay on the ground. 
A brood of wrens, by my sufferance, later issued from that stub. I had 
been greatly tempted to avenge Chickadee. 
THE Cuicaco ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
Bird Life in Northern Wisconsin 
By James Mooney 
It was my privilege to work near Spring Lake, Langlade County, Wis- 
consin, during the past summer months. Spring Lake is about one mile in 
width and a mile and a half long, fed on either end by small streams with 
an outlet to one side through a sphagnum bog. ‘The inlets of the streams 
are shallow and surrounded by a growth of flags and cat-tails; the rocky 
shorelines are framed in a dense growth of paper birch and spruce, while 
farther back, on the rolling hills, is a growth of hardwood; to the south is 
a sphagnum meadow and like a jewel in the center is a clear, round, 
embryo lake. 
My first observations were immediately upon my arrival, for over my 
head on the covered pier was a Barn Swallow’s nest. In a dead poplar, 
not ten feet from the swallow’s nest was a Starling peering from its nesting 
cavity, squeaking and making its presence known as only these warriors can. 
Robins, Swallows, Purple Martins, Red-wings, Crows, Killdeer, Scarlet 
Tanagers, Baltimore Orioles, Great Blue Herons, an American Bittern, an 
Osprey, Sparrow Hawks, Vesper Sparrows, and Kingfishers were all busy 
along the lake shore, some feeding and others carrying mud to their nests 
or just’ resting after a meal. 
Leaving dry and dusty Illinois and coming to such a clean spot seemed 
