eee A UCU SB LON eb UL bell N ff 
altitudinal. Many birds visit us for the winter and ascend to higher levels 
to nest, returning from the mountains to this locality in the fall. 
A word of warning: If you are a beginner in bird study and are unable 
te identify a bird you see, write down, while looking at the bird, its size 
and color, the head, breast and wing markings, and note what the bird was 
doing. Then show your notes to someone who would probably be able to 
help you. Don’t try to remember what the bird looked like or try to describe 
it without your notes. I have heard descriptions of birds so peculiar that I 
knew they inhabited neither land nor sea. I recently received a card from a 
friend living near Pasadena, saying, “What bird is it that keeps calling 
‘O.K., O.K., O.K.’? I have been unable to find the bird, but I know it is 
right near by in the trees.”’ She continued, “I had just finished writing this 
when a neighbor came in. I asked her what bird kept calling ‘O.K., O.K., 
O.K.’ ‘Why,’ she exclaimed, ‘That is Johnson’s parrot that they let loose 
every day to fly about the trees.’ ” 
ff ff 
Adventure in a Knot-hole 
By VERNA R. JOHNSTON 
IN THE spring of 1941 I had an interesting experience with a pair of tufted 
titmice. I had been trying for two years to find a titmouse’s nest in central 
Illincis, but had had no luck. Finally, on May 11, 1941, I located the much- 
prized nest twenty feet up in the knot-hole of a white oak, and began to 
Tufted Titmouse 
take notes on it at regular intervals. On May 19, the eighth day of my 
cbservations, as I approached the nest site, I could hear from a considerable 
distance loud, desperate scolding and protesting notes from the two parent 
titmice. Usually they made no noise other than their “‘peto-peto” song and 
soft scolding notes. I set my ladder against the tree amid their squeaking 
cries and began to climb. One of the titmice flew to the nest hole, perched 
a few seconds, and flew away, still scolding strenuously. I reached the top 
of the ladder, shinned the distance to a large hmb and pulled out my 
flashlight. I flashed the light into the hole and looked a pilot black snake 
