Bird lore - Project Puffin

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Gulls of didcrent kinds. The downward
drop of the great red beak, in flight, was
the first thing to suggest the species. The
birds stayed two days. When not flying,
they stood on the sand-bars in the river,
but, when the storm raised the water over
the bars, they left. A thunderstorm that
came the night before we saw the birds
may have driven them inland.
One more unusual sight for June, in our
village, is the appearance of Pine Siskins,
several of which have frequented our yard
of late. Kmza F. Mii.i.er, 5f//?('/,Fcrwo«/.
A Chimney Swift's Care of Its Young
The following extract from a letter by
Mrs. Sophia W. Morgan, of Madison,
Wisconsin, is sent without her knowledge,
but I think she will have no objection.
"Since we first went to the farm, Swifts
have built nests and reared their families in
our chimney; last summer (1915) the
same. The day was raw and wretched
when we saw three of the young flying
around the house. About four o'clock I
went to my room, and on the alcove
screen saw what I at first thought to be a
large bat, but going close to it found it
was a Swift. The windows open out and
the screens are inside, and it was on one
of these the Swift was fastened. (Its
claws have hooks unlike those of other
birds.) The windows face the east, so
when open protect from the cold north
wind. I called M., and she soon discovered
that it was a mother bird and
under each wing she held a young bird.
We examined it and talked in its very face,
and though among the most timid of
birds, not a flinch was visible. I should
have closed my window at night, but the
little mother continued to wrap her young
and stayed through the night. I scarcely
slept, rising often to see the devotion,
almost superhuman. At nearly nine in
the morning they were still there, but
soon flew away."
Mrs. Morgan has been a bird-lover and
observer for several years, and sees with
thought as well as with eyes. Susan
M. Williamson, Elizabeth, N. J.
Notes from Field and Study 3^1
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Evening Grosbeaks at Smyrna, N. Y.
.\ flock of six ICvening Grosbeaks have
visited Smyrna, Chenango Co., N. Y.
They came March 11, 1916, and remained
three weeks, appearing in the
morning and again in the afternoon of each
day, feeding upon locust seeds.
The birds were fearless, which gave a
fine opportunity to study their coloring
by the aid of the field-glass—a beautiful
sight when the ground was snow-covered.
—Mrs. W. I.. Ch.\pman, Stnynui, N. Y.
A Late Record for the Evening Grosbeak
On February 9, 1916, a flock of fifteen
or twenty Evening Grosbeaks were seen
by Miss Hattie T. Burnham, at Fort Ann,
New York. Until the last of March, one
or two birds were seen about the village
streets gleaning maple and elm seeds.
May 20, Silas Vaughan asked me to come
to see a strange bird which had been about
the maple trees in his yard all day. It was
a beautiful male Evening Grosbeak. It
was quite tame; and early in the day had
been seen drinking from a pipe under the
kitchen window. The following day, the
bird was gone. Stewart H. Burnham,
Hudson Falls, N. Y.
Chased by a Great Horned Owl
Toward twilight of a September day
in 1914, I was sitting in a canoe up the
Inlet above Second Connecticut Lake,
N. H., watching for an Owl which, I
believed, used as a hunting-stand one or
more of the many dead trees. Suddenly
a Belted Kingfisher shot upstream, flying
low over the water and yelling bloody
murder, a Great Horned Owl a few yards
behind. They appeared from around a
bend below me and disappeared around
a bend just above, the Owl still in close
chase, but the Kingfisher presently
swung back over the trees alone and
passed on downstream. That the Owl, its
first swoop failing, continued so far in
pursuit instead of giving up at once,
seems to me of interest. Charles H.
Rogers, New York Cilv.