 Chapter 8 of Wild Bird Guests by Ernest Baines. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Hospitality all the year round. Most birds will appreciate hospitality at any season. To some of them at certain times it is a matter of life and death. A few there are that we cannot assist even when they are in greatest need of assistance. For example in a preceding chapter we have spoken of the vast number of birds which are sometimes killed by late spring storms. Some of these birds which like the purple martins feed almost wholly on insects captured on the wing, we may find it impossible to help. But there are many other birds which naturally take their food on the ground or from the trees and bushes and these may in some cases at least be tied it over for a few days until find weather makes it possible for them to give their own living again. In Meriden, New Hampshire for instance a number of us make a practice of gathering. In the fall the berries of mountain ash, wild cherry and other food plants and drying them on the stalks in some place where the mice cannot get at them. Next spring if a late snowstorm comes we tie these berries to the branches of trees and shrubs in the gardens where they are simply gobbled up by hungry robins, bluebirds, wax wings and others whose natural food supply has been cut off or curtailed by the storm. Mealworms are even more desirable as bird food at such times but few people have a good stock of them on hand and they are very expensive when bought from cage bird dealers. As it is quite a simple matter to raise these so-called worms almost any of us can be prepared to care for the insectiverse birds made temporarily destitute by the coming of late snowstorms. The writer in anticipation of the perils of such storms rears mealworms according to a simple method recommended by Professor Clifton F. Hodge who in his valuable book Nature, Study and Life has this to say about them. The best insect food for soft-billed birds is mealworms and every child that wishes to help young birds, Professor Hodge here refers to birds which have fallen from the nest or which have been wounded should learn how to rear them and keep a supply on hand. They are also excellent food for winter birds and for robins and bluebirds and many others that come early in the spring. We do not always have the time to collect insects in sufficient quantity but we can always have a supply of mealworms if we once learn how to feed them. The mealworm is the larvae of a black beetle which can be found from May to October about granaries, mills where feed is kept in stables in the dust in hay lofts, in pigeon lofts, and meal chests. The eggs are laid in these places and when hatched and fully grown the larvae are smooth, yellow, tenor, brio, molator, or a blackish tea obscures worms about an inch in length. While commonly looked upon as pests for feeding birds they are well not indispensable. The writer has paid twenty-five cents a dozen for them to feed mockingbirds and the market price by the wholesale is one dollar fifty cents per thousand. If we know how to use them the worms in a meal chest may thus be worth many times the value of the meal chest and all. Directions in the bird books for raising mealworms are quite misleading and in order to go to work intelligently we must learn the life from egg to egg. The first fact to learn is that the insect is single brooded, that is it requires an entire season to complete its growth. The beetles may be found laying eggs from May until freezing weather in the fall. The early eggs will produce larvae which are full grown by September or October of the same season and larvae from the late eggs do not attain their full growth until about mid-summer of the next season. A female beetle lays from twenty to fifty eggs. While practically any foreign nation's material cornmeal, ground feed, cracker crumbs, bread crusts is suitable. Feeding experiments have proved that wheat in some form or other is preferred and yields the best specimens. Professor Hyde suggests that the best way to rear a supply of mealworms is to take a good sized tight box or earthen jar half filled with ground feed, cornmeal, oatmeal, ground wheat, bread crusts, any or all of them, some scraps of leather, a raw potato or two to supply water and last and most important drop into it a few hundred larvae or beetles. They should be covered with cloths. Woolen ones are best but cotton ones or burlap are almost as good and over all there should be a lid of wire screening. The potatoes should be renewed as they are eaten otherwise the insects should be left alone. If the original stock is started about April you should have a fine lot of mealworms for use by the fall. After that it will be an easy matter to keep a supply on hand for feeding after cold spring storms and in other emergencies. But it is not only at special times like those during or following severe weather that birds are attracted by food. They need it all the year round and they are obliged to go somewhere to get it. And just as men who go to business must live within convenient distance of their work so birds must make their homes within easy reach of their food supply. Consequently if we desire to entertain a great many different kinds of bird guests in spring and summer our best plan will be to give them both food and nesting sites in our own gardens, woods and pastures. In no other one way perhaps can this be so well done as by properly planting for the birds the kinds of trees, shrubs and creepers which are attractive because they furnish food, shelter and nesting sites. Of the latter I shall speak at greater length later on but naturally many of the trees and shrubs which offer food and shelter will be used by the birds to build their nests in. A bit of convincing proof of the value of cover as an attraction for birds is to be seen at the Pines, the estate of my friend Frederick H. Conard at Newton's Center, Massachusetts. Mr. Conard in an article published in the National Geographic magazine thus describes it. We have had for eight years under close observation about 44 acres comprising three acres of lawn dotted with a few old apple trees, six acres of wet meadow which are allowed to grow up with tusks of grass, cedars, alders, wild roses and the like and the remaining 35 acres divided into areas of about equal size. The first of these areas that about the house is covered with a growth of pines, hemlock, cedars, birches and various other deciduous trees among which we have taken pains to cultivate suitable coppers and undergrowth while the second area covered with deciduous woods is on account of a fire that ran through it a number of years ago almost devoid of the smaller evergreens or protecting coppers and undergrowth. In the first of these areas some 30 different species of birds breed nearly every year while in the second area only from three to five different species build their nests. The writer suggests the following species as among the best for providing birds with the continuous supply of food throughout the year. The deciduous species are arranged according to season and the evergreens in a class by themselves. Various considerations have influenced their choice beside their comparative attractiveness as food supply such as beauty of flower, fruit and form, time and duration of fruiting season, supply of nesting sites and cover, their ability to attract birds away from the cultivated fruits and last but not necessarily least their attractiveness to those insectivorous birds that feed upon the insects that may inhabit them. Summer, trees, white mulberry, native red mulberry, bird cherry, shrubs, shabbush, blue cornel, tartary and honeysuckle, red-buried elder. Among the trees the fruit of the white mulberry seems to be even more of a favorite than that of our native species. Of the shrubs the early blooming and fruiting shabbush is important while the red-buried elder is perhaps the most popular fruit of all. Autumn, trees, flowering dogwood, white thorn, bird cherry, shrubs, silky cornel, gray cornel, common elder, writhe rod, arrow wood. Vines, frost grape. The flowering dogwood with its beautiful spring blossoms and its attractive fruit fed upon in the early autumn by a large number of individuals of numerous species should be included in every garden. Cretigus arnoldiana is one of those recently separated species of white thorn originally known as C. coxenia, which has proved at the Arnold Arboretum to be one of the best and most attractive of the earlier ripening species. Of the cornells and barburnums there seems to be but little choice they are all good. The common elder fruits are little later than the red-buried elder and like it should be planted in every garden. Winter, trees, gray birch, coxspurthorn, European mountain ash, Siberian crab-apple, shrubs, barberry, black alder, common privet, buckthorn, sheepberry, black haw, vines, virginia creeper, summer grape. Of the trees for winter food supply the gray birch is one of the most attractive. In summer and autumn it is visited by many kinds of birds in search of the insects that it harbors, and in winter it seems a particular favorite with all the smaller finches and sparrows that flock about it. Of the mountain ashes the European is the finer tree and very attractive to robins, cedar birds and the larger finches and no garden should be without it. The Siberian crab-apple with its great quantities of persistent fruit has proved to be one of the very best. Of the shrubs our common barberries should always be planted. The black alder with its persistent red berries is one of our most beautiful winter shrubs. The common privet, the fruit of which seems only to be eaten when the supply of other fruits is exhausted, proves very acceptable late in the winter, while the buckthorn is one of the greatest favorites and is another of those shrubs that should be found in every plantation. Spring, trees, Washington thorn, American larch, European larch, flowering crab-apple, shrubs, Japanese barberry, rosa, rosa, rust, high bush cranberry, vines, false bittersweet, false bittersweet, Boston ivy. The above species are listed as a spring food supply, not because their fruits ripen in the spring, but because ripening in the summer or autumn, they hang on or persist until spring unless previously eaten by the birds. The Washington thorn is one of the handsomest of our native species, perfectly hardy, though not indigenous to the northeastern United States, and is with its handsome fruit a great favorite with several species of birds. Of the larches, the European is the finer of the two, and both our favorites, with crossbills, pine growspeaks, and the smaller finches, and in the early spring are visited by many warblers and other birds in search of the insects that are to be found there. The Japanese barberry is included in this list of shrubs, not because its berries are eaten by many birds for quail and partridge are the only species I know of that eat it habitually, but because it makes one of the very finest hedge plants impenetrable alike to dog or cat, and because of its compact method of growth furnishes a favorite nesting site for many of our smaller birds. The fruits of many of our native wild roses persist throughout the winter. Our humilis, our netida, and our virginiana are good and may be planted along the walls and road sides. Our multiflora grows either as a shrubber vine and is with its beautiful clusters of flowers and fruits, one of the finest of the introduced species. The fruits of all the sumacs persist throughout the year and are fed upon by numerous birds. Either of the large species are glabra or are tafina, with its wonderful autumn foliage is fine, while of the smaller species ruse copalina is attractive. The highbush cranberry is very attractive to the eye, both in flower and in fruit, and it can speak to its berries persisting throughout the spring when other fruits of scarce are eaten voraciously by numerous species of birds and no garden should be without it. Of the vines listed above the introduced false bitterspeed bears its fruit a little more freely and retains it a little longer than the native species. All the vines listed for the various seasons are attractive and should be planted wherever possible. Boundary walls, old fences, or ugly outbuildings are appropriate places. Attractive evergreens, red cedar, Norway spruce, white spruce, black spruce, red spruce, white pine, Norway pine, Douglas spruce, Japanese yew, hemlock. Evergreens, although the seeds of the various species may fall in the autumn, winter or spring, are placed in a clasp by themselves because their usefulness throughout the entire year can hardly be overstated. The red cedar whose fruit persists throughout the year and is fed upon by at least 25 species of birds is probably the most popular tree in the country for nesting sites and is the hunting ground for countless warblers and other insectivorous birds. The spruces are almost as popular as are also the pines and hemlocks and all of them furnish protection in winter as well as shade in summer. Of our native spruces, pea, canna, densus, and pea rubra seem only to flourish in the higher altitudes or in the more northern states and are rather difficult to grow successfully elsewhere. In eastern Massachusetts, pea canna densus is perhaps the better tree as pea rubra grows but slowly, pea nigra, which is better adapted for lower altitudes, and ordinarily drags out its weary straggling existence in our swamps will sometimes do well if planted in dry or soil. For those who do not live in a locality where our native spruces can be grown successfully, the old-fashioned Norway spruce, if free from the spruce loss, has always been a very attractive tree. During the winter, it is visited by gross beaks, crossbills, finches of various sorts, nut hatches, jicades, etc., and in the spring it is the favorite hunting ground of many of our migrants. While in the summer it offers tempting nesting sites to numerous residents, the Douglas spruce of the rest is undoubtedly one of the finest of our introduced species. It seems perfectly hardy in many places where our native spruces do not flourish and should be used in the future much more than it has been in the past. Of the hard pines, the Norway is by far the best tree and should be planted much softer than it is. The white pine and the hemlock are perhaps the finest of our evergreens and too well-known to need further description. The white pine is a particularly rapid grower and both that and the hemlock flourish throughout practically the entire region and should be planted whenever possible. The Japanese yew, although slow of growth, is one of the hardiest of the introduced species and the mature plants with their striking pink berries make a wonderful addition to our gardens and evergreen plantations. The rider also believes in the planting of rhododendrons, either our maximum or our cattabiens, and laurel, caulmia, latifolia, when they can be made to grow. They are perfectly hardy in many places where they are not supposed to flourish and if properly planted really do not require the care that many suppose. The rider does not know that their seeds are eaten by birds but when planted in masses, inappropriate places in gardens or about the borders of woods, they are very beautiful all the year round, particularly when in bloom and afford a cover much resorted to by birds, both winter and summer. On suburban places and in the country, the use of evergreens, large plantations wherever possible, is of prime importance as a source of perpetual food supply and as a protection from the elements, as well as on account of the welcome nesting sites they offer. From an artistic standpoint also, the use of evergreens is to be recommended. They warm up the landscape and in these days when so many of us live in the country throughout the year, it behooves us to make our country places as attractive in winter as in summer. I'm indebted to Monsieur William Brewster and Walter, Dean of Cambridge, Massachusetts and to Mr. C. E. Faxon of the Arboretum of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts for their many helpful suggestions of making up this list. And my thanks are particularly due to Mr. Alfred Rader of the Arnold Arboretum to whose thorough knowledge and painstaking care I'm indebted for the list of fruiting seasons. I'm also indebted to the United States Department of Agriculture for information contained in the bulletin entitled How to Attract Birds in Northeastern United States by W. L. McCarty. In addition to the above, there is a long list of herbaceous plants which are attractive to birds, but a few of the more important ones will suffice. In the open field of the bird sanctuary emeritus, we plant Japanese millet, hemp, wheat, and sunflowers. Buckwheat is excellent, especially if there are wild doves in the vicinity. The hemp, millet, and sunflowers we leave standing and the birds take the seed at will during the fall and winter. The wheat we cut, bind in sheaves and tie, ears down to the trunks of trees in the woodland that grouse and other birds may find plenty of available food just above the snow. In many of the village gardens are planted Japanese millet and sunflowers, and Mr. Canard recommends that nightshade and pokeberry be planted along the stone walls. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are such universal favors that many of us like to do a little planting, especially for them. They are particularly fond of tall larkspur, salvia, columbine, bee balm, gladiolus, and nasturtium. Then we often make for them artificial flowers of bright color cloth or paper, hiding in the heart of each a tiny bottle filled with honey and water or sugar and water. It is said that they will take the sweet stuff just as quickly if the bottle is not surrounded by a flower, but I am inclined to think that in the first instance at least the color and form of the flower will help them to find the bottle. Where there is a possibility of attracting wild ducks, the planting of wild rice, wild celery, and pond weeds is recommended for fuller information concerning the respective values of these foods, the best methods of planting them, and so forth. The reader is referred to Circular 81, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, and entitled Three Important Wild Duck Foods by W. L. McHattie. Further advice concerning the management of waterfowl and game birds may be had by application to the American Game Protective and Propagation Association, Wilworth Building, New York. End of Chapter 8. Chapter 9 of Wild Bird Guests by Ernest Baines. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The bird lover as a landlord. I doubt if it ever occurs to the average person that birds are actually in need of nesting sites. Of course there are thousands of people who believe that it is a good thing to encourage blue birds and tree swallows and rands by putting up nesting boxes in the gardens and orchards, but most of them do it chiefly because it is interesting and delightful to have the birds about. A few go as far as to plant shrubbery in the hope that cat birds and song-sparrows and a few others will make their homes in it, but they rarely do this because they think the birds need it. As they look out over the countryside and see all the trees and bushes, it seems as if the birds had far more nesting sites than they could possibly use. And the fact that so many of these trees and shrubs are not used by the birds seems to confirm the opinion. The chances are, however, that many of these apparently good nesting sites are unused for the very simple reason that they are not what the birds require and that they would not even appear to be suitable if we knew a little more about the real tastes and preferences of birds. Perhaps no other man has given so much good thought to this subject as Baron Hans von Berlepsch, whose estate, Seabock, near Essen, Germany, has become world famous as a paradise for birds. As a result of the study he has given to the likes and dislikes of his feathered guests in the matter of nesting sites, he has a thousand birds nesting on the twelve or thirteen acres immediately surrounding his castle every year and thousands more in the woods beyond. And it has paid him to study the comfort of his guests, for they have become a powerful good. When an insect plague swept over that section of the country some years ago, Seabock was the one green spot left on the face of the landscape. It stood out like an oasis in a desert, and all because a thousand birds with perhaps two thousand hungry babies to feed showed that insect destroyers of vegetation can be made to serve a very useful purpose. The birds which suffer most perhaps from lack of nesting sites are those which naturally nest in holes and trees. We have brought about wholesale destruction of our forests and even on our gardens, orchards and farms, we have made sure to remove the dead trees and stumps which are the very ones usually selected by birds which nest in cavities. In short we have driven these birds farther and farther away from our homes and back into the wilderness and if we wish them to return to their former haunts we must substitute for the dead trees which they formerly occupied suitable nest boxes of some kind. Some birds like house wrens, tree swallows, bluebirds and starlings are so eager for new nesting sites and so simple in their requirements that they will accept almost any nest box offered to them. A common starch box, a flower pot, even an old tomato can with a hole cut in the end, but there is seldom any need to use such crude devices as these, since anyone who has access to a few boards, old or new, a saw, a hammer and some nails can for a few cents a piece make neat bird homes from such plans as are given here or as may be found in Farmer's Bulletin 609 which may be obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington DC. It is a matter of great importance that young people especially be encouraged to make houses of this kind, it gives them an opportunity to do active work for the birds, work of which they will be likely to see the result and thus be encouraged to continue. But they should study the requirements of the birds and not be led into making houses which are simply odd or pretty. There is no objection to having a pretty bird house if the essential features, the dimensions of the room, the diameter of the entrance, etc. are correct. There is no use in making houses with more than one room except for purple martens unless of course you wish to encourage starlings or European sparrows. The two room houses for bluebirds, rands, etc. which we see on the market are never really occupied by two families at the same time. Sometimes we see houses made with a good deal of glass in the form of windows perhaps. I do not remember having seen any house of this kind occupied by birds and it is inadvisable to have more than one entrance to a room or to have rooms in the same house connected one with another. The extra doorways tend to make the house drafty if, in any case, ventilation seems really necessary, holes should be made above the entrance. But there are comparatively few of our birds which take kindly to bird houses made on any of these lines. Most of the others refuse to occupy any ordinary handmade nest box. Von Berlapsch discovered this and after years of experiment decided that the only way to induce these more fastidious birds to become his tenants was to give them nesting boxes practically like those which woodpeckers, tits, and others make for themselves by burrowing into the trunks and branches of trees. So he invented a machine which would hollow out a log in such a way that the cavity was an exact facsimile of a woodpeckers burrow or a titmouses burrow, not a straight bore, but flask shaped with bulging sides and pointed at the bottom. He made a number of such boxes in several different sizes to accommodate birds both large and small. For a little while the birds showed no marked preference for these boxes but by and by he found that he got most interesting results. Birds which had never come to any of his other nest boxes came to these and the birds which had always come to the other kinds like the new ones at least as well. He once put up 2,000 of these nest boxes and 1,700 were occupied the first year. The following year they were all occupied and he knew that his experiment was an unqualified success. The German government was so much impressed with the result of this and other experiments of the barons that it has established other bird sanctuaries in other parts of Germany. The Grand Duchy of Hess not long ago put up 40,000 of those nest boxes in the forests to protect the timber and in many villages and towns people who have no special love for birds put up these nest boxes realizing that it pays to encourage the birds which occupy them. Some years ago the writer imported from Germany 150 Berlepsch nest boxes and they were a great success. Later at the request of Mr. William Dutcher, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, he undertook to direct the manufacture of Berlepsch nest boxes in this country and slightly modified to meet the special requirements of American birds. They are now made by the Audubon Birdhouse Company in Meriden, New Hampshire. Among American birds which the writer knows to have used these boxes are sparrow hawk, screech owl, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, flicker, great crested fly catcher, starling, tree swallow, house wren, white-breasted nut hatch, red-breasted nut hatch, chickadee, bluebird. Some of these birds, hairy and downy woodpecker and red-breasted nut hatch, for instance, have never been known to enter any other kind of nesting box. And others, the sparrow hawk and red-headed woodpecker, for examples, have already been known to do so. In fact, less than one half the birds mentioned in the above list regularly nest in carpenter made nest boxes of any kind. Thus it will be seen that in spite of the fact that Berlepsch nest boxes are only just beginning to be known in this country, they already more than hold their own against all the other kinds put together. It is the writer's belief that if Berlepsch nest boxes are made available for American birds, they will eventually be occupied by practically all species which naturally nest in holes and trees. As von Berlepsch himself has proved by repeated experiment when properly made, these nest boxes are the best in the world. But he warns bird lovers to beware of unscrupulous dealers who, ignorant of the real requirements of birds, make boxes which on the outside only resemble the properly made ones. These fail to attract the birds, of course, and the result is disappointment and discouragement to the bird lover. A very common cause of failure with nest boxes is lack of knowledge of when, how, and where to hang them. The following rules are intended to enable the reader to avoid failure from this cause. They were written with special reference to Berlepsch nest boxes, but apply equally well to any other type of nest box with which it is hoped to attract American birds. Time of year. Nest boxes may be put up at any time of the year and the sooner they are put up the better. Of course, if they are put up so late in the spring that the birds have already selected other sites for their nests, one cannot expect great success that season, but some of the birds which, like the bluebird, rear two broods may use the boxes for the second brood. And in any case, the birds will become accustomed to the presence of the boxes and will be more likely to make use of them next year. To obtain the very best results in the spring, the boxes should be in place the autumn before. There are several reasons for this. In the first place, many of the birds which nest in holes use holes to sleep in during the winter. And birds which become used to sleeping in the nest boxes will be very apt to use similar boxes as nesting sites in the following spring. In the second place, if they are hung before the leaves fall, one can see exactly what he is doing and avoid hanging the boxes in places which are too shady, whereas if the work is left until spring, they may be hung in places which seem open enough while the trees are bare, but which will have too much shade when the leaves come out again. Then if boxes are hung in the fall, they are sure to be out early enough in the spring. Otherwise, the work is apt to be left until the birds begin to come back, which is too late for the very best results. Some birds seem to select their nesting holes very early, though they may not begin to build until later. Condition of nest boxes. The statement often repeated that birds prefer boxes whose appearance of newness has disappeared may be true of the shire species. From my own experience, I am inclined to think that if blue birds and tree swallows have any preference in this matter, it is for a clean, new-looking box. I have repeatedly seen these birds enter and examine new boxes within 10 minutes after they were put up and then nest in them afterwards. I very much doubt, however, whether the age of the house has much to do with its chances of being occupied by such tenants, for I have known the same box to be used many years in succession when newer boxes were within sight. General situation. It should be continually borne in mind that nest boxes are for the accommodation of birds that naturally nest in holes and trees. Now the trunks or branches in which such holes are situated are usually dead or decayed and not, as a rule, heavily shaded. Therefore, to place a box in a perpetually shaded place, like the heart of a leafy tree, would be to place it where birds would be unlikely to use it. As a rule, it should be hung on a well-exposed trunk or branch, and though a little shade will do no harm and is even desirable, the box should get plenty of air and sunlight. Position. If we examine the nests which birds make for themselves in the trunks and branches of trees, we shall find that sometimes these trunks and branches are perpendicular and that sometimes they are leaning. And when they are leaning, we shall find that the entrance holes leading to the nests are usually on the underside. We can readily see good reasons for this. If they were on the upper side, the rainwater would run in and moreover it would be less convenient for the birds to go in and out over an overhanging surface. So as our object is to give the birds a home as nearly like a natural one, as possible we must hang our boxes either on upright trunks or branches or on the undersides of leaning ones. They may also be erected on fence posts and where the birds have become tame and fearless on the sides of houses and barns. Of the occupied nest boxes on the writers' farm within the last few or two, some were on the house itself, others on the barn, on gate and fence posts, in the trees of the garden and orchard, and in the woodland nearby. Preparations for hanging. If your boxes are of the bur lepsk type, the first thing to do is to drop into the bottom of each a small quantity of sawdust and dry earth mixed together about half and half. This is to take the place of the peckings of decayed wood which woodpeckers always leave in the bottom of the cavities they make. Such birds do not as a rule carry in nesting material and these peckings take the place of it. The quantity of dry earth and sawdust mixture differs with the size of the nest box. The following quantities are recommended by Baron Berlepsk himself for sizes numbers one and two, one heaping tablespoon full, for size number three, two heaping tablespoons fulls, for sizes numbers four and five, ten heaping tablespoons fulls. This mixture may be dropped through the entrance hole. It is not necessary to raise the lid. Any nest box intended for wood ducks should be left three quarters full of dry leaves. This may be more leaves than necessary, but the ducks will throw out what they do not need. Other types of nest boxes are rarely occupied by woodpeckers other than flickers, but a little sawdust will do no harm in any nest box and in case of driving rain may help the drain each. An inch or two is enough for a bluebird or tree swallow boxes, but the deep boxes intended for flickers should be half filled at least. If there is more than the flickers care for, they will quickly throw it out. You are now ready to hang up the nest boxes and in most instances you will need a ladder for this. Where a number of boxes are to be put up, a wheelbarrow will be found a great convenience. Of course, the work will progress much more rapidly if two persons are engaged, one to mount the ladder, the other to hand him the nest boxes and tell him when they hang true. The best place is to hang nest boxes. Other things being equal, the greatest success with nest boxes will be had by those who give heed to the preferences which different kinds of birds show in selecting sites for their homes. It would hardly be possible to give rules so complete as to cover all the preferences shown by birds likely to occupy nest boxes, but the following suggestions will be found useful by those who have not had a wide experience in the field. And among these suggestions I will give what seem to be the best heights at which to hang nest boxes for different birds. I shall try to avoid extremes for good reasons. For instance, I have found flickers nesting within three feet of the ground that is too low for safety. I have found them nesting 40 or 50 feet above the ground that is too high for convenience in hanging bird boxes. I suggest from 8 to 25 feet, 8 is usually safe and even 25 feet is usually convenient. Blue birds as we all know are usually found nesting in open apple orchards along fence posts and around the houses and farm buildings. Evidently then the best places to put up nest boxes for them are on the apple trees, fence posts, shade trees, arbors, burglars, houses and barns. Anywhere from 8 to 12 feet will be found to be a good height. Chickadees are fond of the open woods especially rather swampy woods and in such places usually nest rather close to the ground. I once found at chickadees nest the entrance to which was only one foot up the side of a poplar stump. From 4 to 8 feet up would be all right for open woodland but chickadees are also fond of orchards and here they usually nest somewhat higher. For chickadee boxes to be hung on apple trees and the sides of quiet buildings I would suggest 8 to 12 feet. Red-breasted nut hatches usually nest in the open woods and seem partial to the borders of clearings. Nest boxes hung from 15 to 25 feet above the ground are apt to suit their ideas as to proper height. A pair of these birds at Dover, Massachusetts nested in a burlapsk nest box only 7 feet from the ground. White-breasted nut hatches sometimes like the open woods but at other times seem to prefer to nest in orchards or quiet gardens. For these birds nest boxes hung from 8 to 15 feet above the ground will be high enough. The little house wrens will build almost anywhere but seem to have a preference for quiet gardens and orchards nest boxes intended for them may be hung on trees, arbors, pergolas, porches or the sides of buildings and need not be hung more than from 8 to 12 feet high. Trees, swallows are very easy to please and properly made nest boxes hung on the exposed trunks of shade trees. On tall stumps on buildings or arbors and 8 to 15 feet above the ground will be sure to please them. Nest boxes intended for these birds may also be fastened to special posts and placed around open fields. Purple martins seem to prefer to nest in many roomed houses rather than in nest boxes which accommodate only one family. Such houses should be erected either on special poles, on telegraph or telephone poles, the trunks of trees or on the tops of buildings. Martins like plenty of open space on at least one side and they are especially fond of the banks of rivers, whence they can swing out over the water. From 15 to 25 feet is plenty high enough for martin houses though they are often placed much higher. Great crusted fly catchers usually seek their nesting sites in open woods or orchards anywhere from 6 to 15 feet will be found a good height for the nest boxes. Flickers are fond of nesting in old orchards where some of the trees are dead or dying but they often nest in trees standing in the open or in posts or even buildings at some distance from human habitation. As I have said, good heights for their nesting boxes may be found anywhere from 8 to 25 feet above the ground. Red headed woodpeckers like open woods but seem to be quite willing to accept hospitality offered them in quiet gardens and orchards. 12 to 20 feet will suit them as two height. Billiated woodpeckers so far as I know have never occupied artificial nesting boxes but perhaps this is simply because no one has ever hung properly made ones in suitable places. These woodpeckers are birds which usually prefer old forests and it is here that nest boxes intended for them should be placed. Judging from their natural nesting sites anywhere from 15 to 25 feet would be a good height. Yellow bellied sap-seckers will nest in open woodland or in shade trees and gardens or along country roads and village streets from 15 to 20 feet would be a good height for nest boxes intended for their use. As sap-seckers are known to be destroyers of certain kinds of trees especially of birches which they girdle with holes in order to get the sap. Some people may not wish to encourage them but they should not be confused with other woodpeckers most of which are very useful birds. Saw-wet or Akkadian owls are often found nesting in old woodpecker's holes or deserted squirrel's nests. Nest boxes intended for them may be hung in woodland or on the sides of isolated buildings and anywhere from 10 to 20 feet would be a good height. Sparrow hawks are usually birds of the open country and often nest in isolated trees. Nest boxes hung on such trees within the bird's breeding range and from 15 to 25 feet above the ground are apt to be occupied. Care should be taken that these beautiful and useful little hawks are not mistaken for sharp shinned hawks and killed. Wood ducks and mallards both take kindly to artificial nesting sites and golden eyes and American mergansers probably will do so eventually. Nesting boxes for wood ducks should be placed on trees within 200 or 300 feet of some pond or stream where if the ducks are tame the boxes may be fastened a foot or so above the surface of the water upon posts driven into the mud at the bottom. In this case it is well to have a sort of gang plank made of upboard with cleats nailed across it leading from the entrance hole to a little float resting on the water. The ducks will climb out on the float and by means of the gang plank reach the entrance to the nest box. Three toad woodpeckers usually inhabit living evergreen forests and nest boxes intended to attract them may be placed from 10 to 25 feet from the ground. These birds have not yet been known to use artificial nesting sites. Downy woodpeckers are birds chiefly of the woods and orchards and should be attracted by suitable nest boxes hung from 10 to 20 feet high. They have been known to occupy bur leps, nest boxes only. Harry woodpeckers are fond of quiet woodland especially swampy woodland or woodland near a stream. Sometimes they nest quite close to houses nest boxes hung from 15 to 25 feet above the ground will be at the proper height for them. They have been known to enter bur leps nest boxes only. Screech owls seem to have little fear of man and frequently nest in the orchards or in shade trees near the house or on the village streets. They will often occupy nest boxes hung on trees or the sides of barns from 8 to 25 feet up. While not essential in all cases it is best to examine all nest boxes in the fall and clean out those which have been occupied either by birds or by squirrels, mice, hornets or moths. Some birds will go to the trouble of cleaning out a nest box but many will refuse to use it unless it has been cleaned for them. Last spring a pair of bluebirds in Meridan, New Hampshire refused to build a nest box which they had used for years. Finally the owner of the box examined it and found in addition to the old nest an adult egg left from the year before which he decided was the cause of the trouble. He cleaned out the box and the bluebirds began building it once. On the other hand another pair of bluebirds in the same village built their nest in a bur leps box over the nest and eggs of a pair of tree swallows who it would seem had a better right to it. Ernest Thompson Seton adds the remark, as a practical detail I have found it worthwhile to have each nest with a hinged door which would admit of easy inspection without disturbing the inside arrangements. The author's experience coincides with this and all nest boxes made under his direction are fitted with hinged lids and simple fastenings to facilitate inspection and cleaning when necessary. Shelves for Phoebe's and Robin's. The author has had success in attracting Phoebe's to the house by putting up shelves for them under the piazza about four to six inches from the roof. At his own house a little shelf made of a bit of board four inches square supported by a brace has been occupied by a pair of Phoebe's for three successive years, two broods being reared each year. Robins prefer a somewhat wider shelf perhaps six inches fastened a little farther away from the roof to allow for the larger size of the birds when they stand on the rim of the nest to feed their young. Some people object to having birds nest in this way because they soil the piazza. But it requires so very little work to keep everything neat and clean that it is hard to see how anyone can forego the delight of observing the home life of their little guests to say nothing of the advantage of having countless troublesome insects destroyed. The pair of Phoebe's on our piazza with two pairs of tree swallows which nest in boxes in the garden and a pair of barn swallows in the barn keep our house practically free from flies and mosquitoes all summer long. A large proportion of the birds which will nest neither in nest boxes nor upon shelves are provided for in Mr. Cunard's Spended List of Trees and Shrubs and Creepers given in Chapter 8. Baron Hans von Berlepsk goes a step farther and plants what he calls shelter woods, the trees and shrubs in which are systematically pruned in such a way that the new shoots form whirls and crotches of the kinds most attractive to birds which make their nests in such places. But this is an art in itself and those who would learn it I must refer to Martin Heisman's How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds, an imported book for sale by the National Association of Audubon Society's 1974 Broadway New York City. Nesting material. It seems reasonable to suppose that birds are influenced more or less in their choice of nesting sites by the amount of suitable nesting material to be found comparatively close at hand. If barn swallows are to nest on a particular barn there must be a supply of suitable mud within easy distance or if a Baltimore Oreo has selected a certain pendant branch on which to hang his nest it is safe to assume that within a rather short radius may be found enough strings of some kind to make an Oreo's nest. And the fact that birds so often avail themselves of the strings, rags, scraps of paper and other materials accidentally drop near our homes suggests the possibility that if a generous supply of such nesting material were made available during the nesting season more birds would be likely to nest on the premises. A great variety of nesting material is used by our common birds and there is no telling to what extent this would be added to if new material were available. Since the coming of the white man they have added string of many kinds, woolen yarn, silk thread, horse hair, sheep's wool, feathers of domestic poultry, rags, cotton batting, wood shavings, paper and probably other things. Any or all of these might be offered with a fair chance of their being used. Small dry twigs and hay in convenient lengths would doubt this be accepted by certain birds and by a study of the nests in any locality probably other materials could be added to the list. A puddle with plenty of soft wet clay or a sticky mud of some kind or a tray of this material in an exposed situation would be likely to be visited by barn swallows and cliff swallows. One objection to offering the birds such materials as rags, cotton batting, paper and shavings is that they are blown about by the wind to make our garden look untidy. Perhaps this objection might be overcome by putting the materials in net bags with a wide mesh or in shallow baskets or boxes with covers of netting and painted so that they are inconspicuous when placed on trees or in shrubbery. End of Chapter 9 Chapter 10 of Wild Bird Guests by Ernest Baines. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Bird baths and drinking pools. In hot weather, especially in time of drought, there is nothing more attractive to birds than water. They need it to drink and to bathe in and when the natural pools and streams are dried up, they will come from far and near to visit a properly constructed bird bath. At the very time this chapter is being written, the weather is very hot and dry and birds are coming to the artificial baths in the village, not one at a time but by scores. Only this morning they gathered at a little cement bath just outside my study window and gave it the appearance of an avian Manhattan beach. I saw two blue birds, a Jewwick, a white-throated sparrow, a song sparrow, a junko, a chipping sparrow, and a myrtle warbler, all bathing at once and at least a score of other birds were hopping about in the grass or perched in the bushes nearby, awaiting their turn. There were similar scenes at nearly all the bird baths in Meriden. One example will suffice. In the bird sanctuary there is a bath made from a granite boulder, or rather half a boulder, for it was split in two ages ago, probably by the frost. It had broken in such a way that one half had a gently sloping concave surface and we took this half and turned the concave surface uppermost that when filled with water it might form a natural pool for the birds. As I approached this bath one evening after sundown I saw the whole surface of the water dancing as though a shoal of little fish were sporting in it and spray was flying in every direction. It was simply a flock of birds taking their evening bath. Perhaps because night was coming on they were too impatient to wait their turn for all seemed to be trying to get in at once and most of them were successful. Junkos seemed to be most numerous but there were several bluebirds and myrtle warblers and some sparrows which in their wet plumage and in the uncertain light I could not identify. A little apart a Phoebe sat on a twig above the pool watching for chances to dip down into the water for an instant after which she would return to the twig to preen her feathers. Birds come to our bird baths every day in summer and fall in an almost continuous procession but usually just a few are present at the same moment. They come in large flocks only at exceptional times usually following severe drought. Bird baths may be as simple or as elaborate as one likes. A rough earthenware saucer from 6 inches to 12 inches in diameter and with half an inch of fresh water in it is a great deal better than nothing. It may attract some of the most delightful birds. I've seen robins, cat birds, Baltimore Orioles, rosebreasted grossbeaks and many others bathed in an earthenware saucer. But the supplying of water is so very important that most of us will wish to do rather more than put out a saucer. Even from a selfish standpoint it is well to give birds all the water they want. If we do they will be much less likely to destroy our small fruits which they sometimes eat chiefly for the fluid they contain. In making any bird bath the first thing to look out for is the depth of the water. Few of the birds which will come to bathe will use water of greater depth than two and a half inches and even for grackles and blue jays five inches is about the limit. But most birds refuse to jump off into any such depth. If we had a pool without uniform depth of even two and a half inches birds would come and drink but few of any would bathe. So we must arrange for shallow places where the birds can enter the water. They will go in deeper presently but they are very cautious. Half an inch is a good depth for the shallows and if the depth grades off to nothing at all so much the better. A bath which the writer invented some time ago and which has proved very popular with the birds is made on the principle of a flight of broad steps, each one of which is two feet long and seven inches wide. There are five of these steps each one half inch lower than the last so that when the waters half an inch deep on the top step it is two and a half inches deep on the bottom one. The birds invariably enter the water at the top step. Their favorite steps are the second and third. They seldom go lower than that. The bottom is covered with clean sand and bright pebbles from a trout brook and here and there among them are strewn beautifully tinted shells. Close beside it is a wooden tray of earth on which are scattered every morning bird seed of several kinds. Bits of bread, a little suet, ripe raspberries and a piece of banana perhaps as additional attractions for the feather guests. Among the smaller visitors are the chipping sparrows, gentle modest little fellows who come to the food tray quietly as mice crack a few seeds and then take a bath on the top step where the water is shallow. Almost burly in comparison are the purple finches which come often two or three at a time make a full meal in the food tray and then south themselves thoroughly in the deeper water regardless of theories concerning the dangers of bathing too soon after dinner. Perhaps the most amusing visitor is a cat bird who has a nest in the lilac bushes from the top of which in the early morning he sings his wonderful song, which so surprises those who know him by his cat call only. He comes boldly to the food tray, hops lightly about, jointly flirting his long tail, swallows a ripe raspberry, takes a bite or two of banana and then proceeds to inspect the bath as if he had never seen it before. He cocks his head first on one side and then on the other hops into the shallow water and begins to peck at the shells and pebbles at the bottom. Perhaps he will take one in his bill and hold it for a moment before dropping it back. Then he goes out into deeper water and with wings vibrating as though operated by an electric current takes a thorough bath all over. When he comes out he is a sorry looking object gripping wet and with tail feathers stuck together but apparently he cares nothing for appearances and proceeds with his toilet forthwith. He shakes himself vigorously, flips his tail from side to side to get rid of the bulk of the water and then it is surprising how soon with the aid of his deaf bill and a warm scent he makes himself into a clean fluffy cat bird again. Sometimes toward evening a bluebird visits the bath and after washing himself in a very business like way flies off to a dead tree to preen and dry his feathers. Occasionally if he becomes but apparently takes a bath more from a sense of duty than from any love of bathing he seems to dislike cold water about as much as does the average small boy. For instead of getting right into it as most birds do he flips through it barely getting his feet wet. Perhaps this habit has been acquired by repeatedly darting after insects and possibly is common to all fly catchers. At any rate I've seen a king bird bathe by dashing through the water of a stream time and again returning after each dip to a snag from which he made a fresh dive after stopping a moment to preen his feathers and perhaps to catch his breath. But the song spares are perhaps the most numerous visitors to this bird bath. They come earlier and stay later than any of the other birds. They act as if they own this particular sheet of water three feet by two and if any other bird ventures too near while a song spare is bathing the former is promptly driven away. These spares seem to fairly love the water and not only splash in it but squat right down in it until practically nothing but their heads are sticking out. Sometimes when it is almost dark and the last red tinge of afterglow is reflected in the tiny pool a couple of dark spots on the shining surface tell just where two little song spares are cooling off for the night. We have been all together too busy to keep close watch on this bath but at different times we have observed the following birds using it. Flicker, Phoebe, Baltimore Oriole, Purple Finch, White Wing Crossbill, American Gold Finch, Vesper Sparrow, White Throatist Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Junko, Song Sparrow, Shoe Wink, Cedar, Waxwing, Black and White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Myrtle Warbler, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Robin and Bluebird. Probably there have been many more which we have not observed. The arrangement of steps while interesting is by no means necessary and the bath of the same size say three feet long, two feet wide and three inches deep with a continuously sloping and roughened bottom starting at one end, half an inch from the top and ending at the other end at its lowest point but probably answer the purpose just as well. And speaking of the roughened bottom reminds me that almost if not quite as important as the depth of water in a birdbath is the character of the footing on the bottom. This should never be slippery for birds lose confidence when they find they cannot keep their feet. A layer of coarse sand or fine pebbles will usually give the desired footing in a birdbath and a slippery pan or dish can be rendered safe by placing in it a freshly cut sod having about half an inch of the grass submerged. This makes a wet spot such as many of the small birds are very fond of. Concrete is very useful for the construction of pools for the comfort of birds. It may be used alone as in the case of a birdbath in my own garden or in connection with natural rock cropping out above the earth as seen in the photograph of Mr. Canard's little pool opposite. The format was made as follows I scooped out in the lawn and elliptical hollow four feet by three feet six inches the side sloping down in all directions toward the center where the depth was four or five inches. I now took some Portland cement and some coarse sand and mixed in that proportion of one of cement to four of sand, adding just enough water to give it the consistency of common mortar. Then with my hand I plastered it all over the surface of the hollow, putting in enough to make the depth at the center about two and a half inches. I was careful not to make the sides too smooth though the concrete itself gives an excellent photo for the birds. We have no running water in this about once a week we sweep the water out with a stiff broom and put two pails of fresh water into it. It has been a complete success and being within 10 feet of the house. We have had a great pleasure in watching the birds from the windows and from the piazzas. We have seen six bluebirds the parents and four young bathing in it at once and at other times there have been whole flocks of song sparrows white throated sparrows and junkers in addition to the many birds that come in smaller numbers with a few shrubs and hearty flowers planted about it. Such a bath can be made a beautiful little feature in any garden. And of course there's no reason in the world why it should not be made much larger if one has plenty of room and the time to make it. Dr. Ernest L. Hughes, president of the Meredith Bird Club has a somewhat similar bath in his garden but he has carried the idea a little farther. In the center he is sunken tub and from the rim which is perhaps two and a half inches below the surface of the ground the concrete slants outward and upward in all directions making shallows in which the birds will drink and bathe. In the tub pond lilies are planted and spread their leaves and blossoms over the surface. Round about shrubs and tall grasses are planted and here and there among them one catches a glimpse of a little food tray filled with hemp and millet which tends to keep the birds about the spot even when the bath is over. There is hardly a limit to what may be done with concrete in this way especially if it is used in connection with beautiful stones pebbles sand and shells. Small pools may be swept out often enough to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the larger ones a few small fish will quickly devour the larvae of these insects. Of course in the case of bird baths which are not raised well above the ground great care must be taken that the little bathers are not pounced upon by cats which would otherwise have the little songsters at an unusual disadvantage. The birds become so engrossed with the joy of the bath that they are less wary than usual and their feathers being wet they fly slowly and heavily often close to the ground. If we cannot be sure about cats we must either have our bath raised well above the ground on some object which a cat cannot climb or else we must be content with a bath out in the open without shrubs or grass about it for behind such things a cat will crouch. I've spoken of a bird bath made of a granite boulder we have two of this kind of meridian new Hampshire and they are among the most satisfactory baths we have. One has the natural hollow which I have described it is set upon a well made stone foundation a hole has been drilled down through to admit a lead pipe which supplies running water and a little bronze tablet bolted to the granite shows that the bath is placed there. In memory of Dr. Edward Everett Hale and gives the name of Miss Harriet E. Freeman of Boston who presented it to the bird club. I often think how much more appropriate as a memorial to a real man or woman is a beautiful thing like this made by nature carved by her mighty forces and dedicated to the use and enjoyment of the loveliest of her children than a shining ugly and utterly useless polished shaft who so recommendation is that it costs from 100 to 1000 times as much in the case of the other boulder bird bath which is on the campus of the local Academy. A hollow was chiseled out by a Mason at small expense and we decide to have such a bath. Our plan is to appoint a committee each member of which has a good general idea of the kind of boulder required when any member goes for a walk. He keeps his eyes open for likely boulders and when he finds one which he thinks will do he takes the other members to see it. If it is satisfactory is to size and form. The next step is to approach the owner of the land on which it lies and secure his permission to remove it. He's usually glad to have it removed and if he is the owner of oxen or heavy work horses he appreciates the contractor haul it at his convenience. The lovely bronze fountain executed by Mrs. Louis Saint-Gaudens and pictured here is another of the charming features of the bird sanctuary of Meriden. It makes one realize that with the sculptor as an assistant there is no end to the artistic bird baths which may be designed. This particular bath was made in commemoration of the first presentation of Percy Mackay's bird mask sanctuary and was presented to the Meriden Bird Club by Helen Foster Barnett who witnessed the play. It will be seen by the shallowness of the basin at the top that my remarks about the depth of the water applied just as much to a formal work of art as to a granite boulder or an earthenware saucer. The rule about surface also applies and the sculptorist purposely left the surface of the inside of the basin slightly rough that the feet of the little bathers might not slip. Below the shallow bowl and embalmed leaf may be seen in procession the principal characters who took part in the mask. Below these are interesting inscriptions some of them historical others consisting of quotations from the mask itself. Of these the one that sends the reader away filled with determination to do something for the cause of bird conservation is the compact sworn to by the poet the converted plume hunter and the naturalist. Compact then we three that when we go forth from these gracious trees into the world we go as witnesses before the men who make our country's laws and by our witness show in burning words the meaning of these silver mysteries freedom and sanctuary for the birds. End of chapter 10 chapter 11 of wild bird guests by Ernest Baines this lever box recording is in the public domain. Some of the problems which confront beginners the writer does not begin this chapter without realizing the magnitude of the task which would confront anyone who undertook to give in detail remedies for all the ills which birds are air to. Even were he able to cope with such a task it would be impossible in a book of anything like this size to do so. But he knows from the letters of inquiry which he receives that there are many people who seek just a few opinions just a few suggestions from someone who has had even a little more experience than they have had and whom they feel will be working along with them for the welfare of their mutual friends the birds. It is principally for these and such as these that this chapter is written. Storms. There seems to be little we can do to prevent birds from being killed as a direct result of storms. We've already spoken of the planting of evergreens as shelter and such local protection is valuable as far as it goes. We've also spoken of the feeding of birds in winter and after late spring storms. Floods caused by heavy rains and which result in the destruction of nests upon the ground within the flooded area might it would seem be prevented in many cases by a simple drain which would carry off the surplus water. Waterfalls. Speaking of the swans which went over Agri Falls in 1908 Mr. James Savage in a report to the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences concludes while the killing of the wounded swans at the ice bridge in a certain light might be regarded as an act of mercy in as much as without human interference most of the birds would probably have perished from their injuries or by starvation. Yet it is greatly to be regretted that as many of the birds as possible were not taken alive and given an opportunity to recover. I believe that fully one third of the 116 swans taken would have survived if given the proper care. But the impulse to kill was stronger than the spirit to save and not even a pair of these unfortunate birds was rescued from nature's doom and restored to nature's freedom. The injured swan seen in our illustration was secured by Mr. Savage half an hour after it was picked up at Bass Rock Eddy. It could not stand or use its wings but nevertheless he took it to Buffalo and placed it under the care of the curator of the zoo in Delaware Park. It quickly recovered and was soon floating gracefully on the waters at Park Lake. The writer believes that the importance of saving as many as possible of the swans which are wounded by coming over Niagara is out of all proportion to the number of bird lives actually involved. The size and majesty of these kings of the waterfowl together with the dramatic nature of the disaster which has overtaken them ensures a wide publicity which may be made either to help or injure the cause of bird protection. Here are glorious world famous birds which are braving the dangers of a long journey to their arctic home and which have even survived a battle with one of the mightiest cataracts on earth. To permit these voyagers while they are bruised and battered and still struggling bravely but hopelessly with the savage waters of the gorge to be dragged out upon the ice and choked or bludgeoned to death is highly demoralizing. As much to those who permit the barbarous practice as to the young men who murder the helpless birds for money. Would it not be a noble work for the boy scouts with permission from the authorities of course to organize a first aid corps to save the swans wounded by going over Niagara Falls. The scouts could arrange to patrol the riverbank at certain points during the brief period in March when the swans usually come over take the birds from the water and convey them to some suitable place where they would have every chance to recover and later to continue their journey northward. Dead birds instead of being plucked and eaten might be sent to museums and to scientific collectors in the United States and Canada to become a permanent value as skins or mounted specimens such a core would set a splendid example and its work would become widely known. Disease individual scientists here and there though usually hampered by lack of sufficient funds are doing splendid work in their investigation of the causes of disease and birds and in their search for methods of prevention and cure. But a great epidemic like the one which has recently caused such havoc among the waterfowl of Utah usually requires prompt and vigorous action by the government. At the outbreak of any epidemic of disease among birds the person discovering it should at once notify the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington District of Columbia and await instructions from that bureau. If on investigation by the Bureau the epidemic threatens to be serious Congress will probably be asked to appropriate a fund with which to carry on the work of stamping out the disease. Natural enemies on very large preserves devoted to the protection of birds and other wildlife a few natural enemies may be an advantage. Most of them eat a variety of food and the birds which they get will often be the weaklings those which are not quite healthy or which in one way or another failed to come up to the standard. But on a small place especially one which it is designed to make particularly attractive to birds I should say the fewer enemies there are the better. On such a place a fox a pair of red squirrels a house cat or a sharp shin hawk will be likely to prevent a normal increase of the bird population. Yet to many of us the very hardest task we have to perform for our friends the birds is the killing of their enemies. It is always a sad thing to fire a gun at a sharp shinned or Cooper's hawk which but a moment before perhaps has been sailing far above the earth a beautiful creature doing nothing more wicked than looking for his dinner and bring him crashing down to his death. Neither does one enjoy killing a red squirrel every line of whose muscular little body is beautiful every motion graceful and his only sin is the eating of a few fresh birds eggs for breakfast. If we are thoughtful we shall probably ask ourselves some questions such as our sharp shinned hawks squirrels cats skunks and other bird enemies to blame for what they do. When they simply act as nature intended that they should. But if we are reasonable and honest we must try to answer such questions truthfully. Of course these animals aren't no more to blame for what they do then wolves are to blame for killing sheep. Foxes for killing hens or tigers for killing men but we should hardly blame a shepherd for shooting a wolf if it threatened his sheepfold. We should think of farmer rather stupid if he permitted foxes to destroy his hens year after year without making an attempt to stop them. And if a man were killed by a tiger which he had refused to have killed I'm afraid that some of us would be rude enough to say served him right. Man's status upon this earth is based on the assumption that he has the right to regulate in so far as he is able the status of every other animal with which he has relations. Unless we deny the right of this assumption and permit ourselves to be dominated by the wild animals we must to be consistent protect the useful birds from there to us less useful enemies. On large tracks devoted to the preservation of birds one way to get rid of their natural enemies is to employ one or more men part of whose duty it should be to shoot and trap. Another way is to give some local trapper the privilege of clearing the place of vermin where traps are used it should be stipulated that they be visited frequently such work should not be entrusted to boys or to any but reliable men. On a small place one man with a gun can without devoting much time to the work do a great deal toward keeping it free from bird enemies. For example I know one New Hampshire man who with a 22 caliber rifle has for years kept his home farm of 100 acres clear of red squirrels house cats and European sparrows reduced the chipmunk population as much as seemed necessary and who has shot several sharp shin and Cooper's hawks and two northern strikes. The same man has shot practically all the red squirrels in the nearby village of meridian and with the help of one other man has cleared the village of European sparrows. Most of the letter were shot but a few were caught in a sparrow trap both of these men lead very busy lives one as a doctor the other a writer but by carrying their guns occasionally while going about their work they have been able to free the local birds of nearly all their natural foes. It has been the experience of men who have made determined effort to rid a given place of such bird enemies that the task becomes increasingly easy. In meridian for example about 200 red squirrels were shot the first year perhaps 50 the second and now the shooting of half a dozen squirrels a year is all that is necessary in spite of the fact that the village is full of trees and is surrounded by woodland. European sparrows it was the same with the sparrow problem at first meridian was like any other sparrow infested village the pests were everywhere and nest boxes put up for native birds were at once appropriated by the intruders. A couple of guns began to speak and spoke at intervals for perhaps three or four weeks after that they spoke less and less frequently until at length they were silent. What European sparrows had not been shot had sought a milder climate but there is a town full of them seven miles to the north and a village full of them four miles to the south and about once a year flock of 20 or 30 drift into meridian. At once guns are fired in honor of their arrival and those which are able to leave generally do so without even stopping to say goodbye. Occasionally a few will stay about the village for a day or two but it is no use they are simply not allowed to get a foothold. And while I am on this subject let me say that the work of exterminating the European sparrow is not for children. It is hard work unpleasant work and should be done by real men who know the bird from all others and who are prepared to camp on its trail until there isn't a specimen left in the locality. Any other course is generally a waste of time. It may give temporary relief but the work has to be done all over again and any cruelty which may be involved must be repeated at the next trial. Clear the town thoroughly just once and thereafter it will be comparatively easy to keep it clear. Don't attempt to get rid of sparrows by tearing down the nests. An infant should realize the futility of this method. The birds will have another nest built before you're up next morning and will play the game with you about once a day during the rest of their long nesting season. Kill the birds and your work is done once and for all. Dead sparrows make no nests. The principle methods employed to destroy European sparrows are trapping, shooting and poisoning. Of these trapping is the safest and poisoning the most effective and large numbers of birds are to be disposed of. In Farmer's Bulletin 493, United States Department of Agriculture, written by Mr. Ned Dearborn and entitled the English Thera as a Pest, there are some excellent suggestions for trapping and detailed plans for making sparrow traps and there are some fairly good traps on the market. In most of these traps the birds are caught uninjured and must be disposed of afterwards. This makes it possible to liberate any other birds which may be caught unintentionally. Almost any kind of small grain, wheat, oats, cracked corn or bird seed will do to bait a sparrow trap and it should be kept baited all the time. The following directions for poisoning sparrows are given by Professor Clifton F. Hodge based on the results of his own careful and successful experiments and are the best I know of. Dissolve one-eighth of an ounce of powdered strick-9 sulfate in one-half pint of boiling water, pour this while hot over two quarts of wheat or cracked corn, stir well and continue stirring from time to time until all the liquid is absorbed, dry thoroughly without scorching and put away in some safe receptacle labeled poisoned grain. Strick-9. It requires but one kernel to kill a sparrow. A quart of wheat contains about 23,000 kernels and as a sparrow seldom takes more than two or three you have enough to rid the neighborhood of about 20,000 sparrows. Expose the grain where poultry and tame pigeons cannot get it and by operating only during the winter there will be no danger of poisoning seed-eating wild birds at least for all northern towns and cities. By taking advantage of the sparrow's gregarious habits and the fact that they drive off other birds from localities where they are numerous, much might be done even in the south. Sparrows are such suspicious and cunning birds that if the strick-9 grain be exposed at first they will probably roll each kernel in their bills, taste it, reject it and possibly refuse to touch it again that winter. The best way is to select a safe place where the wind is not likely to scatter it, a walk, driveway or a porch roof with a smooth surface so that the grain may be swept up after each trial. Accustom them to feeding their daily with grain exactly like that which is medicated. I often do this for a week or even a month until all the sparrows in the neighborhood are wont to come regularly. Study the times when they come for their meals and then on a cold, dry morning after a heavy snowstorm having swept up all the good grain the night before, wait until they have gathered and then put down enough strick-9 grain to feed the entire flock. You have about 10 minutes before any begin to drop and those that have not partaken of the grain by this time will probably be frightened off but by timing it properly I have repeatedly caught every sparrow in the flock. I have found the morning the best time as they all come then and it is essential to success to select a dry day since in what weather they taste the strick-9 too quickly. I have seen them actually throw it out of the crop. With this simple method at command by concerted action a few friends of our native birds can rid any northern city of the sparrow pest in a single winter. This is no more than parents ought to be willing to do if not for the sake of the native birds at least to clear the way for the children to do effective work in their behalf. The shotgun too may sometimes be very useful in the war on sparrows. In sparsely settled districts it may generally be used without danger and the other birds are only temporarily frightened by the noise. If the sparrows are accustomed to feeding in densely packed flocks around small heaps of grain a great many may be killed at one discharge of the weapon. The gun is also very useful for gathering in here and there single birds which have become too wary for trap or poison. When there is an opportunity to shoot only one of several birds the gunner should select a female for obvious reasons a preponderance of males is said to further the work of extermination. Almost any town or city can be cleared of European sparrows and kept clear of them if just a few men of resource and resolution will undertake the work. In almost any town there are a certain number of men who have made a great success in business and I know and they know that if the sparrows had stood between any one of them and the success he has made there would not be a single sparrow in that town. Crows they would probably be unwise to exterminate the crows even where some individuals are addicted to nest robbing. Such individuals should of course be shot if possible and even a general thinning out may be advisable. But crows are very intelligent and interesting birds and the writer for one would miss them sadly if they were all gone. Nevertheless we must have consideration for the farmer and try to help him to prevent the pulling of his corn another grain by the crows. A single dead crow hung up by the feet in a conspicuous place usually makes the best kind of a scarecrow and will protect a considerable area of ground. One of the most effective methods of preventing the pulling of corn is to give the corn a thin coating of tar. There are several ways of doing this. One of the best is to soak the corn in water until it begins to germinate and then stir in enough tar to give each kernel a thin coating. Some farmers simply moisten the corn with warm water before stirring in the tar. If the latter is applied while the corn is dry it is said to retard germination two or three days. After the grain has been coated it is usually rolled in plaster, wood ashes or similar absorbent before planting. The only objection to this is that it prevents the use of the planting machine. A little experimenting would probably result in the discovery of a method to which there were no objections. Cats. The house cat problem is one of the hardest with which the bird lover has to contend. The genuine affection which many people have for cats, the enormous numbers and wide distribution of the animals and the fact that they have a certain value as destroyers of rats and mice all tend to increase the difficulty of solving the problem. But the very difficulty should strengthen our determination to solve it for its solution is a very great consequence. Personally the writer has no faith in the idea of training cats. As Mr. Forbush says there are some cats which may be trained not to kill birds but it is the writer's belief that they are few. Fewer still are the owners who possess the inclination, the time and the very considerable knowledge necessary to train them. Neither has the writer much faith in the belling of cats. Innocent young birds which are often the victims pay no attention to a bell and though adult birds may often be saved by the warning tinkle so will the rats and mice to destroy which the cats are presumably kept. Confinement is certainly effective and cat owners should resort to this method to whatever extent is necessary to prevent their pets from killing birds. If the cat owner will think the matter over very calmly he will realize that his neighbor has certain rights which should be respected. Rights which his neighbor should have necessary insist on having respected. The right to do his duty by protecting our native birds for instance. A cat owner who persists in balking a neighbor who is unselfishly striving to do his duty in this way simply because it may be pleasant or convenient to keep cats places himself in an absolutely untenable position. He has no more right to do it than he has to keep a savage dog at large and thus prevent his neighbor from voting. Personally I insist on my rights in this matter. My bird guests are and always will be assured of the fullest protection I can give them. Furthermore cats are not allowed in the bird sanctuary which is under my management. It would be a crime to lure songbirds to a supposed haven of refuge and then permit them to be mangled by cats. When a cat crosses the boundary of our bird sanctuary he automatically signs his own death warrant. All the neighbors know this and take care of such cats as they consider worth keeping. Most of them realize the justice of the stand which is taken and when a cat disappears no questions are asked. Some people may argue suppose cats do kill birds having cats as much right to live as the birds. Perhaps they have but since many a cat destroys a hundred birds in the course of its life. Sometimes in one year of its life we must change the question a little and ask has a cat a hundred times as much right to live. I think even an ardent cat lover will hesitate before answering yes to this question and if he does answer yes some people may find it very hard to agree with him. No sensible person would advocate the extermination of cats but I do believe that a serious effort should be made to get rid of unnecessary ones. There are many people owning a number of these animals who could get along perfectly well with one. And many of the people each of whom has one cat too dearly beloved to give up who might without serious sacrifice resolve that when it died they would never replace it. Entirely apart from their relation to our songbirds there is another vital reason for keeping the cat population of this country down to the minimum. The evidence against the domestic cat as a carrier of disease appears to be increased by every investigation of this subject by competent people. Any lengthy discussion of the matter would be quite out of place in a bird book but the writer feels that his duty to say just enough to make intelligent owners of cats wish to know a little more concerning the cat as a factor in sanitary science. The fact that cats carry and transmit bubonic plague is well established. There is also positive proof that cats are subject to tuberculosis and diphtheria. That they are very susceptible to scabies and may transmit this disease to dogs, cows, horses and men. That they are subject to pulmonary dystomatosis which is characterized by coughing and hemorrhage of the lungs and that they are frequently infected with ringworm, blood flukes and other unpleasant and dangerous diseases. The writer is inclined to believe that the fondling of cats by children may be the source of many of the seemingly mysterious cases of illness where the little patients have not been exposed to the diseases from which they suffer. Anyone wishing to learn more about this subject should first obtain from the biological department of Clark University a copy of the cat and a transmission of disease by Dr. C. A. Osborne. If they wish to go still farther they will find in the back of Dr. Osborne's pamphlet a list of 32 other books and pamphlets bearing more or less on this very important matter. But after all it would seem that the best and fairest solution of the cat problem lay in a reasonable tax similar to that levied upon the owners of dogs. If there were a tax of say $1 for each male cat and $5 for each female hundreds of thousands of birds would be saved. The sufferings of innumerable homeless cats would be prevented and without injury to anyone. Granting that it is necessary for some people to keep one or more cats as a check upon the rats and mice, surely any real necessity is worth $1 a year. The proposed tax on a male cat which is said to be more than the equal of a female as a destroyer of rodents. The result of such a tax would be that every person who really needed a cat would be able to keep one for a nominal fee but that when such a fee was required few people would keep more cats than were necessary. It would undoubtedly result in a great reduction in the number of female cats and consequently a reduction in the number of unnecessary cats brought into the world. As a result of a similar tax on dogs there is just one female dog in our own village. There are scores of female cats. The writer fails to see any legitimate objection which can be made to imposing such a tax. All humane persons and especially cat lovers should welcome such a measure first because it would at once give the cat a legal status which it does not now enjoy and at the same time prevent the misery now suffered by hundreds of thousands of unnecessary and sadly neglected cats, many of which get their revenge on thoughtless humanity in the country by destroying useful birds and in the city by preventing peaceful slumber. And surely all dealers and cats should be favorable to such taxation because the demand for the high grade cats which they breed would be increased owing to the great reduction in the supply of common cats and because there would be a tendency to own a cat worth paying a tax on. Then from the money derived from this tax there might be employed in each town an officer or officers whose duty it was to be informed of the number of cats owned by each family and to humanely destroy all cats not licensed according to law. It would seem that intelligent people everywhere cat lovers and bird lovers alike should get together and discuss this question calmly and without prejudice or bitterness and see if they cannot help one another out. Of course no cat lover likes to have a favorite cat shot with trapped poison and no bird lover can be happy if a cat is permitted to mangle and torture the gentle feathered guests who come to the garden and orchard. It is a neighborly to kill one's neighbor's cat but just as a neighborly to permit a cat to kill one's neighbor's birds. Let us be neighborly and work together to devise a reasonable plan whereby it may be possible to have what cats are necessary with the minimum danger to the birds. And let us begin at once for as Frank M Chapman sums up the situation the most important problem confronting bird protectors today is the devising of proper means for the disposition of the surplus cat population in this country. Dogs are seldom very destructive to birds. This is due partly to the fact that they do not climb partly to the fact that their method of hunting is not as a rule well adapted to the capturing of creatures endowed with flight and partly to the fact that they are more directly under the control of their masters. Nevertheless some dogs are notorious bird killers and when it is shown that they cannot be controlled they should be given a painless death in the interest of the many birds whose lives would otherwise be taken. Forestry and bird conservation. It goes without saying that every effort to save the forest is indirectly an effort to save the birds. The relation between birds and trees is such that each one tends to preserve the other. Forestry in one sense then means bird conservation so bird lovers should always be willing to lend a hand in the work of saving the forest. The planting of trees and shrubs should be encouraged everywhere. The planting of hedges should also be encouraged. This form of fencing is beautiful, prominent and very attractive to birds. Farmers can help the work by sparing the trees and shrubs which grow naturally by the sides of the roads and lanes. By cutting these down they may gain a few inches of unshaded land but they mar the beauty of the countryside and drive away the birds whose services they need. And farmers should find time to do a little planting on purpose for the birds. There are on almost every farm waste places which could gradually be filled up with trees and shrubs and creepers which would ensure the presence of many birds useful to the farmer. If properly selected these would often save the cultivated fruits which certain birds are so fond of. Forest fires. The desire to protect birds should be another incentive to take every precaution to prevent forest fires and to quickly check and extinguish those which have not been prevented. Owners and managers of bird preserves will do well to consult the best authorities on the subject of preventing and fighting forest fires. In one night a fire may undo the work of years and fire wardens when asked for permission to burn over certain areas for any purpose should always give due consideration to the probable effect upon the bird population, not only of the area in question but of the town in which it is situated. Lighthouses. In order to prevent the loss of bird life which occurs about our lighthouses every year perhaps we cannot do better than to follow the plan carried out by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at St. Catherine's Isle of Wight and at several other lighthouses on the English coast. It seems that the birds do not as a rule kill themselves by dashing against the lighthouse as was it first supposed but by fluttering about it until they fall to the ground from sheer exhaustion. It has been found that if bird rests or perches are arranged above and below the light as pictured here the fluttering birds will find them, perch on them until morning and then go on their way unharmed. The chief drawback seems to be the expense of installing the bird rests but with the vast number of friends which the birds now have in this country this expense could hardly be prohibited. Market gunning and plume hunting. As for market gunning and plume hunting they are in many places already things of the past where they still exist the writer believes that they should be done away with at once as professions detrimental to the best interests of the people. The men engaged in these pursuits often have valuable knowledge of the birds and their habits and this knowledge may sometimes be turned to good account a reform gunner if honest may make the best kind of a game warden. Sportsman the term sportsman in its very best sense is practically synonymous with gentlemen both stand for the spirit of fair play and decent conduct. With the two sportsmen therefore we can find no fault. He takes no unfair advantage of the wild things whether the law permits him to or not. He prides himself on small bags rather than on large ones and does not shoot at all and for any reason game is becoming scarce. He does his best to secure good game loss and to see that they are enforced and to encourage the establishment of game refuges and bird sanctuaries public and private. So-called sportsman unfortunately there is a large body of so-called sportsman or perhaps we should say self style sportsman who constitute one of the most difficult problems with which the bird protector has to contend. To be sure some of them obey the letter of the law but they lack the fine sensibilities of the gentleman which restrained the true sportsman when his reason and sense of justice tell him that a law is inadequate. They are often selfish and inconsiderate how unfair it seems when we realize that if you and I own farms adjoining a third farm owned by one of these men. And if there are 30 quail on the three farms he can take his gun and shoot not only his 10 but your 10 and my 10 as well in spite of our earners protests. Surely we have as much right to our share of these birds alive as he has to his share dead especially as the living quail are performing valuable service for the community nor the ones from which future generations of quail would come. But we're not allowed to have them alive if we want them at all we must take a gun and kill them and kill them soon before our neighbor the self style sportsman can get them. Looking at the matter from another standpoint it is dishonest to cause our wild birds to diminish in numbers or to permit others to cause such diminution in the wild birds our ancestors have left us a valuable property which if we are honest we shall pass on and diminish to the next generation. In the matter of game birds we are perhaps entitled to the interest that is the increase but not one bird more. We cannot take more without literally stealing it from those who come after us. It is not ours to take to concede that we have the right to take ever so small a percentage beyond the natural increase of any species means the extermination of that species and any schoolboy with a pencil and paper can prove it. The passage of the famous federal migratory bird law is already bringing relief to many of the Harris birds and its good effect will be greatly increased when we secure a treaty with Great Britain providing for the protection of all birds that migrate between the United States and Canada. In addition we should see to it that closed seasons are provided for all game birds in any given locality that are not more than holding their own and for other game birds open seasons short enough and bag limits small enough to absolutely prevent the decrease of those birds by shooting. Ignent foreigners in order to deal most effectively with the ignorant foreigners we should first by setting a good example show them the love we have for our native birds. We must let them know by notices printed in their own languages that we have laws which protect our birds that there are penalties for the breaking of these laws. And usually there is in every colony of foreigners at least one man of some influence who has been here longer than the rest who is better educated speaks English and who has looked up to as a counselor and friend by his fellow countrymen. It is often wise to ask the cooperation of this man who should be glad to work with us to prevent his friends from getting themselves into serious trouble through the violation of our laws. The editors of papers which circulate among these people should always be willing to help and all contractors employing foreigners should by the terms of their contracts or otherwise be made responsible for the safety of the birds in the localities where their men are working. Illustrated lectures on the protection of birds if really convincing or apt to do a lot of good. Some time ago the writer tried the experiment of giving a lecture before the members of a colony of Italian workmen and their wives and children. The lecture was given in English of which the audience knew little or nothing. The biological series of pictures accompanied by gestures and changes in the tone of the voice. They were made to follow the speaker with intelligent interest, which was manifested by their earnest and animated conversations during and after the lecture. The members of that audience have been especially active in the killing of birds, but their American instructors believe that the lecture has had a markedly good effect upon them. The worst defender in the audience came to his teacher next morning and volunteered to promise that he would never kill another bird. Ignorant whites and niggers in the south. The problem of the ignorant whites and niggers of the south is of course a serious one, but by no means unsolvable. The closing of the markets for the sale of birds will do much to discourage the slaughter which has characterized many of the southern states. A stiff gun license would save the birds from an army of tattered pot hunters who now rake the fields and woods and might be the means of making self-respecting citizens out of some of these shiftless hand to mouth people. But after all it would be the education of the rising generation which will have the most lasting effect. Teachers both white and colored can perform a valuable service to their country by fixing in the minds of their peoples the importance of protecting our birds. Mr. E. A. Quarles, an officer in the American Game Protective and Propagation Association himself a southerner speaks most highly of the teachers in the southern schools and especially of the colored teachers. And colored people should be encouraged to have their own bird clubs. Colored boys and girls can be taught to make nesting boxes and bird baths and to plant trees and shrubs and after they become interested in this sort of work the desire to kill will occupy smaller and smaller space in their hearts. And the churches not only in the south but all over the country might fittingly take apart in this much needed work. I would suggest the observance of what might be called birds Sunday in which the attention of every congregation in the country might be called to the beauty and usefulness of birds and the importance of protecting them. I know of no more beautiful or more fitting theme for a sermon. The ministers in my own village have already promised to preach on this subject and if their example is widely followed. I believe that very great good will come of it. Miners, lumbermen, etc. There seems to be no legitimate reason why the employees of mining and lumber camps should be permitted to live on the wild birds about them anymore than they should be allowed to live on the crops and herds on the nearby farms if there are any. In the old days when there were no railroads and when game was very plentiful it was of course perfectly right for pioneers of all kinds to live as best they could and to take the food which nature provided. But now camps are too numerous to justify the men in living off the country and the game is not sufficiently abundant to stand it. Moreover, there are now ample markets for the purchase of provisions of all kinds and in most places ample means of transporting these provisions. Save in very rare cases the feeding of the men is a problem to be solved by the men themselves or by their employer and they should not be allowed to solve it by stripping the country of game only very small part of which may be said to belong to them. How farmers can help and the farmers who more than any other one class perhaps are directly benefited by the birds should help with the work of protecting them. They might begin by studying the birds at least enough to enable them to know their friends from their enemies for instance every farmer should be able to distinguish the two or three destructive hawks from all other hawks and forbid the shooting of any but the destructive times. In their own interest they should oppose all legislation providing for a bounty on hawks and owls. In 1885 the legislature of Pennsylvania passed what was known as the scalp act which was supposed to be in the interest of the farmers and which provided for a bounty of 50 cents on each hawk owl weasel and mink killed within the limits of the state. Dr. Clinton Hart Miriam then ornithologist and mammologist of the United States Department of Agriculture in his report to the department estimated that to save a loss of possibly $1,875 a year through the destruction of poultry the state of Pennsylvania had in a year and a half paid $90,000. He further reported that this money had been paid for the destruction of 128,571 benefactors worth at least $3,857,130 to the agricultural interest of the state. In other words that the state had for a year and a half been throwing away $2,105 for every dollar saved. Somehow I can never become very much worried over the question of a small boy with his air gun and slingshot. I know he does a lot of harm but as a rule he isn't pigheaded and as soon as someone he believes in will take the trouble to explain the situation to him he'll turn right round and become a bird protector of a very useful kind. The harm he does is usually the fault of the people who have brought him up. He may or may not have been told not to kill birds. It's all together too easy to tell boys not to do things. That's why so many people do it. It's much harder to give them good convincing reasons and then offer a satisfactory substitute for the thing forbidden. A healthy, normal boy is active in mind and body and he must have an outlet for both kinds of activity. He'd much sooner have a live bird perched on his hand than a dead one in his pocket but unless his parents or guardians will take the trouble to teach him how to get the live bird he'll probably take a gun and come back with a dead one. Get him an interesting bird book or two and let him learn something about the birds. Take him to an illustrated lecture on birds occasionally. When possible arrange to have him meet the man who wrote the book and the man who gave the lecture it will give him a feeling of confidence to know men who are interested in what he is doing or wants to do for the birds. Both the writer and the lecturer may be far too busy to talk to a man but if they're of the right kind they'll seldom be too busy to say just a few words of encouragement to a boy or to answer one or two of his questions if they can. But there is nothing like active work for the birds to give the boy real enthusiasm. Encourage him to feed the birds to give them water and to put up nesting boxes for them. And when the birds have become sufficiently tame let him photograph them that he may be able to show the results of his good work and thus encourage others to do similar work. If there is a bird club in town let him join it. If there isn't organize one or better still help him to organize it. I am proud to say that I have many friends among the boys. Most of them are loyal friends of the birds also. One of them of Austin letter 13 has organized two bird clubs issues a monthly paper and birds and the care of them and recently gave a talk which led to the establishment of a bird sanctuary. Let all grown up bird lovers remember one of the best things judge Ben Lindsay ever said who stands in the presence of a boy whose confidence he has gained stands in the presence of a great opportunity. And there are a few of any of these remarks concerning boys which do not apply equally well to girls. A word is to scientists as for scientific collectors the writer believes that they should be allowed to go about their work unhampered by petty restrictions. Compared with other gunners they shoot few birds and these are generally made good use of. The complaint that scientific men do not do their share in the work of wildlife conservation is generally unfair. It is usually the cry of some conservationist who wishes he were scientific but is not. Who wishes to attract attention to his own work by belittling that of others who does not appreciate the fact that the work he himself is doing is based largely on the work of the scientists. The latter during years of patient research has worked out convincing facts which the unscientific conservationists often dashes off in a few conventional sentences without half realizing the enormous amount of effort they represent. For example one of the strongest arguments in favor of preserving birds is that they have great economic value. The facts which support this argument have been ascertained not by the men who shout them from the house tops but by quiet modest ornithologists who sit in their laboratories whose names are seldom seen in the newspapers. Other men on the firing line do wonderfully effective work for the cause of wildlife conservation but sometimes they do not seem to realize that this work is made possible not so much by the noise of their own big guns as by the ammunition supplied to them by the scientific men who work without making any noise at all. There are literally thousands of splendid men and women working for the protection of our wild birds and there will soon be many thousands more and they should know that the backbone of this bird conservation movement is made up chiefly of the scientific members of the American Ornithologists Union some of whom founded the original autobahn society and who by patient unselfish toil through many years have laid the foundation for the equally important but far more spectacular work being done by others who are often in the public eye. In the chapter 11.