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of the twitterings of the young. A Bell’s vireo was singing and when 
we got too near his nest he set up a great spluttering. There were songs 
of Carolina wrens, catbirds, cardinals, grosbeaks, titmice. “Look at that 
yellow-throat feeding that great cowbird,” said Mrs. Bonney. Our notions 
of ethics disgusted us with both—the laziness of the hulking cowbird and 
the stupidity of the yellow-throat, feeding, no doubt, the murderer of her 
own children. But Nature knows no ethics, and each was only following 
the compulsion of its own instinct, and should neither be blamed nor 
admired. 
We feel we know a great deal more about two relatively rare birds 
than we knew at the first of the year. The knowledge that can be 
attained only by “collecting” them we can get from books. And there 
remain to us in addition to the facts we have learned all the attendant 
delights of the numerous trips to visit them in their homes. 
fm. f° sf 
Wood Ducks Nest in Quincy 
THE DEGREE TO WHICH some wild creatures become accustomed to close 
association with man has been again demonstrated in some news reports 
written by Don Kesler for the Quincy, IIl., Herald-Whig. The nesting of 
wood ducks within corporate limits is not an entirely new experience, but 
the number of cases reported is, we think, quite unusual for one city. 
Incidentally, the reports go far in showing the local faith in the knowledge 
and understanding of wildlife problems of our friend and valued member 
of the Board of Directors of our Society, Dr. T. E. Musselman. 
The first account appeared in the Herald-Whig of June 16, 1946, and 
was as follows: 
“Two tragedies of nature, and what is feared may be a third, were 
reported by T. E. Musselman, Quincy ornithologist. They involved a 
nice mixture of wood ducks, marsh hawks, foxes and men. 
“The first tragedy was the reported death of the tiny wood duck 
foundling rescued from a dog at Point Pleasant last Sunday, and turned 
over to Mr. Musselman last Tuesday for rearing. The little fellow had 
been too long without his essential infant food—insects—and failed to 
survive. 
“The second was a more wholesale affair, involving a whole nést of 
young marsh hawks, a thoughtful and wise farmer, and ‘T. E.’ The wise 
farmer entered the picture when he discovered in his hayfield a marsh 
hawk’s nest. The farmer, Dan McFarland, of near Fowler, was mowing 
hay when the mother hawk was flushed from her nest in the deep grass 
and McFarland found the nest. Knowing that marsh hawks are valuable 
because they destroy rodents, he mowed around the nest area, leaving a 
comfortable margin of tall growth. Then he reported the nest to Mr. 
Musselman, knowing the ornithologist would like to band the young hawks. 
“Marsh hawks, Mr. Musselman explains, begin to incubate their eggs 
