Notes from Field and Study
Early Breeding of the Pine Siskin
Small flocks of Pine Siskins have been frequent visitors at my home for several weeks. On April 14, 1900, I observed them as before, and while enjoying their presence I heard an unusual sound which instantly reminded me of young birds. I took my glass to find, if possible, the cause of the outcry, when, only a few feet from where I was standing, I saw a parent Siskin feeding its young and near by sat another waiting to be fed. There may have been still more young in the evergreen trees close, by but I was only sure of two. They were quite small and looked like little round balls of feathers. On the morning of April 17 Mr. Hor- ton observed them in the same location while being fed by the parent bird. — Mrs. Wm. C. Horton, President of Brattleboro Bird Club, Brattlcboro, Verinont . An Oriole Tragedy Some time ago two boys brought a nest to my office which they had found in their wanderings afield. It was the
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■%,;-.«■ :y:, AN ORIOLE TRAGEUV finely woven pendent of the Baltimore Oriole, made entirely of twine, a mate- rial which proved fatal to the little architect, for there she was hanging pa- thetically by the neck from the lintel of her own doorway, her nestlings starved within. As far as I know this accident is unique in that it occurred after the period of incubation. Let us hope that the struggle was soon ended, that the unfortunate mother was not long com- pelled to listen in impotent distress to the appealing cries of her starving young until kind death at last brought relief — -J. HoLBROOK Shaw, M.D., riymoittJi, Mass. The Newport Robin Many summer visitors to Newport, Rhode Island, are acquainted with the establishment of Mr. Charles E. Ash, of No. 3 Market Square Mr. Ash and his son are devoted to pets. Mike, an old Barbary Ape, was the recipient of much attention from visitors, and doubt- less promoted a better understanding of human character among the thoughtful ones. But the monkeys, dogs, cats and squirrels were not always the favorites. A common Crow that said "papa" and '■hello" was in high favor with the chil- dren ; and a wonderful Robin that whis- tled a march to the step of the police squad marching to and from the neigh- boring police station was certainly one of the best known and most popular individuals of the feathered tribe in America. This Robin closed a long and happy career before my arrival in Newport. He lived on a busy thoroughfare, where a tiny fountain played into a marble trough in which horses slaked their thirst in front of a police station and the Robin's cage; but he never saw a grassy lawn or a green tree, having been taken from a nest built in a post on Bellevue avenue when a very wee bird, by Mr. Charles E. Ash, Jr., who told me that the male parent of this Robin was the finest singer of any he had ever heard.
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