30 
THe ATT DoW BO NATE Cal Recent 
not just a-small well-defined scarlet shoulder patch, but-a 
large diffused orange area running almost up to his cheek. 
For a minute, I think I have some great rarity (J hope, I 
hope) but the call and the orange tail patches give him 
away. . 
The Red- ea Vireo chants in the bickerowel No 
mood musician he—endlessly and always the same. Before 
I started birding 14 summers ago; a visiting ffiend com- 
mented on hearing a Red-eyed Vireo calling far away. To 
me, then, that was necromancy. Now I understand! The 
Vireo is one of those I often see victimized by the Brown- 
headed Cowbird’s parasitic ~ habits. The poor harried 
Mother Vireo tries to.feed a “baby’’ twice her size who 
is trembling and making an incessant rasping rattle, very 
unlike the normal gentle Cowbird ripple:: The Vireo 
shrinks back as she pokes something in that gaping mouth. 
I've also seen Yellow-throated Vireo, Towhee, Cardinal, 
and Blue-winged Warbler terrorized by baby Cowbirds. 
A Crested Flycatcher whoops. enthusiastically, - then, 
to my surprise, comes down right in the tar and gravel 
road and feeds actively for several minutes. Laters1 saw 
a young Cowbird eating busily in the same spot. To my 
eye there was no strawberry shortcake there,- not-even: any 
ants..A gull (Ring-biiled?) flies up from an acre patch 
of “Trembling Aspen. What’s he doing ners a mile and 
a half from the Lake? - ee 
The equisetum’s green plumes are all unfolded. now. 
A little irridescent blue and black moth flits. from one 
blackberry blossom to another. The Pasture Rose buds are 
formed, but not showing scarlet tips yet. Fewer things in 
nature are more evocative of a dune swamp-in June than 
a partially unfurled bud of Resa virginiana. The Sassafras, 
Pin Cherry and Shadbush flowers have faded and the 
ground under the Flowering Dogwoods is white with 
fallen petals. The Swamp Maple leaves have lost their 
early red and turned_a sedate pale green. 
Far away thunder growls and grumbles and all the 
birds sing out -as if to reassure themselves. A hidden Veery 
and a distant Yellow-billed Cuckoo join the chorus. The 
sky is lightly overcast and the sun is a-big fat lemon 
pasted on the white fluff. A light breeze keeps the foliage 
in motion. A hawk squeals—or is it the Blue Jay call 
that sounds like a hawk? It’s early in the day for hawks 
to be up. Noticeable only for their absence are the Golden- 
winged Warbler-and the Yellowthroat whose calls were so 
