The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-29
APRIL BIaDs' EsTs.

Most of the birds in the Eastern
 States wait until May, and many of
 them until June before beginning to
 build, but a small number are sitting
 upon full clutch of eggs before the
 middle of April, and few are to be
 found nestling in March These early l builders seem to be guided more by
 the food supply than the thermome-
 ter, for some of them are feeding l their chicks while the snow still lies 1 deep upon the frozen ground. Natur-
 ally, the very earliest birds to build
 are some of the birds of prey, and of l these the great horned owl is the car | Hest of all, the nest of this bird has l been found near New York city with a | full set of eggs in February, time at i which snow storms and severe cold
 are of frequent occurrences. The nest of the barred owl, another large mem | Der of the family, has been found in | the same locality as early as March | 12, and the little screech owl often lays during the first few days of April
 or earlier. None of these birds is at all dependent on warm weather for
 their food supply. They all prey large ly OIl " llI IHlCt anu Sllleiil blld9, anu the two larger species kill rabbits, hares and other quadrupeds which are aways abroad in the winter. These owls all have very warm nests The tarred and sereech owls us
 ually live in hollow trees, and are thus we'll protected from the cold winds. The horned owl generally lays it's eggs in the last years nest of some other large bird such as a crow or hawk; sometimes an old nest Is used. Any of these secondhand dwellings are bulky enough to give ample pro tection to the hardy litle chicks, whose own downy coverings prevent them from being over sensitive.
 Another of the very early builders is the woodcock, whose simple nest of dry leaves on the ground is sometimes found in the woods in the first week in April All the woodcock requires is that the muddy ground in the wooded hollows and in the vicinity of springs shall be thawed out that he may probe it with his long bill for the earthworms which form a large part of his food.
 The bill of the woodcock, by the way, is a very interesting instrument by reason of the fact that the tip of the upper mandible can be moved inde
 pendently, and used somewhat as finger might be, to draw the worms from the mud. Like the grouse and many other birds, the woodcock en- deavors to lead an intruder away from it's nest or young ones by pretending to have a broken leg or wing.
 Both the red-tailed and red shoul- dered hawks are amongst the early nesting birds, and their massive homes are to be seen in the tops of the leaf less trees early in April By this time many frogs have left the mud at the bottoms of the ponds and the snakes are summing themselves on the shelter ed hillsides. Both the frogs and the snakes are killed and torn to pieces for the benefit of the downy young hawks, which are amongst the bright est and most intelligent of all young birds. Both these hawks are quick to resent any interference with their nests, and will often dash past the head of an intruder In a menacing manner. doubtless for the purpose of tree and fall to the ground. When tre and fall to theg round. When the young hawks are frst hatched they are quite fearless and allow themselves to be handled freely, but as they begin to get their pinfeathers, they become possessed of fear, throw themselves on their backs and thrust out their little talons when one ap- breaches the nest. The duck hawk and boardwinged hawk also lay in April
 The crow has been known to nest near New York as early as April 9, and the home of this bird is always an easy one to find. because it is made before the leaves are out to obstruct the view. The long cared owl lays just about the same time, using a last years hawks. crows, or squirrels nest in which to depcs't it's eggs,
 The bluebird, too, is an early hester and his nest may usually be found in a hole in an apple-tree or in bird-box in the garden sometime before the mid dle of the month The little white bel lied nuthatch also builds in holes in trees, but usually in forest trees It quite often happens that this plucky | little bird nests in a hole previously | occupied by red squirrel, which it seems to have dislodged.