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May, 191][ NESTING HABITS OF THE WESTERN FLYCATCHER 89 At 9:30 the sun was shining on the nest when the female came to feed, and we could see long necks, dark fuzzy ..heads and broad .yellow bills. After feeding the mother slipped onto the nest, resting lightly above two of the birds, the third one showing on our side. Presently the mother raised higher up and partly spread her wings.. For three minutes she thus shielded the nestlings, when the male came to feed and she flew away. The male did not stay this time, but a few minutes later when he came to feed, he rested on the edge of the nest and finally slipped onto it, where he stayed ten and one-half minutes. In my mind there is little doubt but that the male helps brood the eggs, for never have I seen a bird that did not share the brooding take the nest as this one did. The common call of this pair of birds, one that I heard on the upward trip and all about our camp, was a "pe-wit" or "se?-rip". This was given by the female quite frequently before and after feeding. The male used it in the same way but not so frequently. Only once did I hear any other note and then it was only a little varied. ? The food brought seemed to be large winged insects to a great extent. Some- times they were so large as.to make several feedings. The female often foraged quite near the nest in a damp place under the bank. Both birds sat about on limbs not far from us and seemed not to mind our presence. I made only one other trip to the nest and then I took my camera. The nest was so far away and the light so uncertain that not very satisfactory results were obtained. However, the camera shows the location of the nest. For the rest one must use the imagination. MY AVIAN vISITORS: NOTES .FROM SOUTH DAKOTA By H. TULLSEN The bird's point of view differs scarcely at all from our own in the essentials of life: Pro- tection from enemies, the preservation of the family, a sheltered home, congenial environment, abundant food, and pure water these natural rights, the birds, like man, are ever seeking.-- NELTJE BLANCHAN. HE conditions of existence to which animals are normally exposed are not so tranquil and unexacting that such creatures are rendered unwilling to take occasional advantage of opportunities to try other and different environ- ments. This we sometimes see illustrated in the fact that birds, in order to obtain food in greater abundance,' shelter from cold, or security against the attacks of their natural foes, at times will temporarily or permanently forsake their wild haunts and seek the environs of the habitations of men. Of course it is to be ad- mitted that our feathered. friends frequently visit our dooryards and gardens for mere variety's sake, or in obedience to the promptings of .curiosity, or, perchance, owing to a spirit of daring; but the fact remains that necessity and want, or at least a hope of sooner finding the means of appeasing hunger than under ordinary circumstances, are oftener the agents that move such callers to come.' In southwestern South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, I had ample opportunity to observe the behavior of farmyard and dooryard bird-visitors of both the main categories named above, viz., seekers of food and shelter, on the