12 THE AlU: DU BON (BU Leia 
under the bushes. The irrepressible starlings and grackles were noisy as 
usual. The sneaking cowbirds put in their appearance also. A few robins 
were about and juncos were numerous. A lone phoebe caught early insects 
and several meadowlarks made melody. 
As usual the killdeer arrived early, but none was seen in full mating 
display until the thirteenth. On the twenty-fourth a nest was located with 
a brave little female sitting upon it. When the nest was examined on 
April twenty-ninth it held its full complement of eggs. 
One of the highlights of the month was the sight of two of the exquisite 
blue-gray gnatcatchers flitting and darting in and out of the leafiess shrub- 
bery at the end of Lunt Avenue. 
The American bittern, first seen April twenty-fourth, perhaps deserves 
especial mention. As is his habit, he pointed his bill to the sky and 
stretched his long neck. Then, apparently realizing that he was observed, 
he poised for flight, took off heavily, and dropped out-of-sight among the 
tall brown cat-tail stalks. But occasionally up came his head to survey 
his chosen territory. 
Other birds observed at the clay pits during April include swamp spar- 
rows, tree sparrows, a chipping sparrow, tree swallows, barn swallows, 
purple martins, Wilson snipe, golden-crowned kinglets, ruby-crowned king- 
lets, flickers, sapsuckers, brown thrashers, green herons, myrtle warblers, 
and cardinals. 
ne fi! fT 
News from Quincy 
A LETTER HAS BEEN RECEIVED from Dr. T. E. Musselman, of Quincy, III., 
with a Christmas census which was unfortunately too late to be included 
in the regular report. That he has been his normally active self, however, 
is Shown in the schedule he gives for a single week in February. We know 
of no one in our Society who is doing more to interest and inform the public 
as to the value and beauty of our native birdlife than “T. E.” He writes, 
“This week I have talked ‘birds’ before the Father & Son Banquet at the 
Methodist church, Beardstown; the assembly of Western Teachers’ College; 
the assembly of Teachers’ College High School; The Lions’ Club Ladies 
night at Jacksonville, and one other high school assembly—all this added 
to a teacher’s load of four morning classes.” 
Included in his census were some things that may not be unusual for 
him but would be definitely exciting to most of us. For instance, December 
24 he listed 14 bald eagles, 12 of them seen at one time at Keokuk by 
Maurice Dadant of Hamilton. For Christmas Day, on 50 miles of road 
along Route 104 he lists 3 northern shrikes, 7 marsh hawks, 15 short-eared 
owls, 200 prairie horned larks, 35 Lapland longspurs (at new aviation 
field), 3 red-tailed hawks, 3 meadow larks (wintering), and one flock of 
800 starlings. 
