168
and a half, at times at a distance of less than ten feet; May 6. 7 and t4. Golden» winged Warbler; May to, r4, is and er, Nashville Warbler.~heard singing on the first two occasions; May io, is and r5, Bay- breasted Warbler: May to, Mourning Dove; May to and t4, Grav-cheeked Thrush; May t3, Red-headed Wood» pecker, Yellow~bellied Flycatcher, White-
crowned Sparrow; May at. Mourning Warbler.
Near Leonie, N. J.——April 17. Pigeon Hawk, Duck Hawk, American Pipit;
August 2r, Sora Rail.
Near Granlrwaaal, N. .l,—May 15, Yel- low-bellied Flycatcher; July ro, Tufted Titmouse,
Near Englawund, Nl J. (Woodland avenut and Mountain road),——July 10, Kentucky Warbler, Carolina Wren.
Bronx Path—June s. Cooper‘s Hawk; June to, Broad-winged Hawk, Lawrence’s Warbler. (See this volume of BluDrLonE, p. 13L)
Carley Island (Manhattan Beachl.—June t9 and 2;, Least Bitternl
Lang Beach, L. 1,—July 24, Long-billed Curlew. Two Long-billed Curlews flew by me at a distance of about forty feet and at an altitude of about fifteen feet. When I first saw them they were flying directly toward me, but my presence caused them to swerve slightly from the original line of their flight. The weather at the time was very stormy~very heavy rain accompanied by a violent southeast wind; July 31, Rough~ winged Swallow, Herring Gulllilstuc BlLuERsEE, New Yarf Cityl
Another Tame Vireo
In ‘Notes from Field and Study‘ of August BlRD-LORE, I noticed Mr. S, C. Palmer's account at Tame Vireosl One day last summer 1 saw a young Red-eyed Vireo sitting on the edge of its nest. about ten feet from the ground, Touching the tree with my hand, the young bird fluttered down to the earth. At that moment the mother-bird returned with food. Wishing to test her courage, I sat down on the ground with my legs apart, and placed the young one be- tween, After flying around a few times, the
Bird-Lore
female parched on my shoe and fed the young bird; and afterwards she perched on my leg, just below the knee. 1 have no doubt that she would, in time, have fed her offspring ifI had put him in my hand. Butatrtr she had fed him trorn my leg, I put the young one on a branch. and left him to his mother’s care. as both were frightenedl—C. L. BARN- WELL, Bar Harbqr, Maine.
A Pair of Wood Pewees
Mr. Henry Hales‘ interesting account of the intelligence of a pair of Clitt Swallows in the construction of their nest, recalls to my mind an incident which came under my observation, showing not only considerable apparent reasoning power in birds, but much paternal devotion as wellr
In the heated summer of 1901, a pair of Wood Pewees built their nest flat the end of a limb of an oak tree in our lawn. The nest happened to be so situated that for about two hours of the hottest portion of the day the sun shone directly upon it. Dur- ing those hours, one of the birdsimy wife said of course it was the mother, and I pre- sume she was rightiwas always tauntl above the nest with wings extended, so as to shade the little ones from the sun. The sun was usually so intense that we almost always found the bird with open mouth panting in the sun. The punishment must have been very severe, and the sacrifice made by the bird would have done honor to a mother of the human race. But the special point is, the action of the bird could not have been prompted by I ct, as I have never seen or heard of a similar instance with birds. The bird must have reasoned that the heat of the direct rays of the sun would destroy her young, and she took that means to preserve them. In the words of Mr. Hales, “ It seems to me to be a case for which an unreasoning instinct does not suflieiently accountr”—G. Ml ALvss, Hen- rtmrn, Ky,
[The action noted by our correspondent is probably not uncommon. Herrick's ad- mirable 'Home-Life of Birds’ contains photographs of three species shading their young with half-spread wings—Eo]
J
