THE AUDUBON BULLETIN ee 
a less widely known fact than you had thought. Do other members of ‘the 
Illinois Audubon Society know about it, or should it be in the Bulletin? 
Many other state societies use part or all of their publications as an 
instrument of record which gives a localized and detailed supplement to the 
Field Notes of the National Audubon Society. We have published Christ- 
mas season census reports annually, but have recorded little of the findings 
on nesting birds and migration data for this region. It should be done 
and, with your help, it can be done. 
If you have a bird which is highly localized, as is the yellow-headed 
blackbird, please be specific as to where you found it and when. Orland 
Park, for example, is a big area. Was it along the eastern edge of 
McGinnis slough or north along the western edge of the lake? 
A sample of what should be published, but to my knowledge has not, is 
the range in Illinois of the western meadowlark. We have heard it sing 
along Illinois route 64 near Sycamore, and June 29 and July 21 along 
Illinois route 53, north of Lombard near Higgins road (Ill. 72). Has it 
been recorded east of this, and how far east does it range farther south 
in Illinois? 
Send in your notes and help us make available to all members, par- 
ticularly to newer members who have not made the acquaintance of enough 
top field workers to have found the best birding spots, the information 
which we have selfishly locked in our notebooks. The Bulletin should pro- 
vide a continuing record of the birds of Illinois. Nesting in your own yard 
may be the bird for which some of us have combed wide areas and failed 
to find. 
Fl fi ae 
Ata Marsh Hawks Nest 
By JAMES N. LAYNE 
ON JUNE 20, 1948, near Highland Park, IIl., I observed a pair of marsh 
hawks engage in an aerial food transfer. They were over a small cattail 
marsh at the edge of a rather extensive field when the male dropped the 
prey to the female, who caught it easily as she flew about 25 feet below. 
She then glided off into some woods bordering the field while the male 
cruised above the marsh. As I approached to search for the nest, he 
soared over to meet me, protesting with a rapid kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh. 
When I walked a little way in the marsh an unfamiliar, drawn out 
whe-e-e-e-u-u, somewhat similar to the red-shouldered hawk’s call but more 
whistled, sounded a few yards off, and the female flushed from the nest. 
Somehow she had returned unnoticed. 
Situated in tall cattails about 30 feet from dry ground, the nest was 
a well constructed platform of dried vegetation and a few sticks. It 
measured approximately three feet in diameter and stood about 10 inches 
above the level of the water. It contained five nestlings about four weeks 
