44 THe e ASU Di UB Orn? FB ei ean 
most of the daylight hours on a paved department-store parking lot. This 
is the only Macomb record that I know of. 
Also, to my knowledge, the European Tree Sparrow has not been 
recorded from McDonough county. A specimen in adult plumage was 
caught three miles west of Macomb on Oct. 17, 1972, in a sparrow trap 
operated by my wife, Evelyn Franks, and myself. It was well-photographed 
in the hand, and identification was verified by Drs. J. Henry Sather, Tom 
Dunstan, and E. Bruce Holmes. I released it after banding. 
Edwin C. Franks, Macomb 
DIFFERENT KIND OF BIRDING RECORD 
“Sirs: I am a resident of The Mather Retirement Home in Evanston, and 
it occurred to me to share my ‘window bird-watching’ pleasures with 
others who are more or less confined to one room. 
“My fifth floor room has an east-exposure window overlooking a 
quarter-acre garden with red oaks, burr oaks, horse chestnuts, elms, maples, 
small crab trees, and a wide variety of shrubs. 
“From April 1969 to November 1972, from my window, I counted 79 
total species in this area (ground and skyward). Using the Chicago Check- 
list, I have recorded the common species, of course, but also 17 of the 
warbler family, 7 sparrow species, a sparrow hawk and red-shouldered 
hawk, 5 in the woodpecker family, 2 vireos, 4 of the finches, 5 flycatcher 
species, and some of the shorebirds.” 
—Marie Nilsson 
BROAD-WINGED HAWKS 
On September 16, 1972, in Tazewell County, Garma Kinhofer and I saw 
a flight of Broad-winged Hawks about 12:20 p.m., and we continued to 
watch them for almost two hours. The first ones, 18 or more, were very 
high and seemed to be on a shuttle—going straight S.W. One group had 
one Bald Eagle with them; there would be intervals of 10 minutes or more— 
not a Hawk in sight—then 9 or 5 made an appearance. The last hour some 
of the hawks soared around and around and one landed in a tree on the 
hill. Three Ospreys accompanied the last part of the flight as did a 
Cooper’s Hawk (a few of the last groups were much lower so we could see 
markings). 
—Virginia Humphreys 
A TALE OF GRACKLE vs. SPARROW 
Underneath the feeders in our backyard in December I observed a common 
grackle yanking the feathers out of a house sparrow. He proceeded to eat 
the sparrow—tearing the flesh in the same manner as a crow. I found 3 
additional mutilated remains of house sparrows—his handiwork—as I 
watched him dragging them about. 
The following day I watched this grackle chase a house sparrow and 
kill and eat it. This was not a quick demise for the sparrow. The grackle 
jabbed the sparrow about the head with his bill, the sparrow struggling to 
YULE FIELD NOTE: The annual Christmas Bird Census tabu- 
lation will appear in the Summer 1973 issue of AUDUBON 
BULLETIN. 
