their nests in the low bushes. I used to scatter crumbs for them, but
they would rather have worms. The Kingfishers came early in the morning,
so that we did not see much of them.--DOROTHY DAVIES.
[The members of the Apulia Junior Audubon Society are from eight to
twelve years old. The School Department was very glad to receive pencil
drawings made from the educational leaflets, together with the letters
given above through the kindness of Mr. T. Gilbert Pierson. The way in
which the leaflets are used by this society is excellent, and suggests a
method practicable for all junior Audubon Societies.--A. H. W.]
=IV. RHODE ISLAND BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUB WORK.=
=HOME PROJECTS FOR 1915=
Conducted by the Extension Service, Rhode Island State College and
the United States Department of Agriculture
Boys and girls from nine to eighteen years of age inclusive may enroll.
There will be achievement emblems offered for all those who do
successful work. Local prizes may also be offered for good work and
exhibits at local shows, such as poultry, corn and flower shows, also
grange exhibits. Boys and girls may take up any one or more of the
following projects.
_Home Garden._--Cultivation of vegetables, flowers, shrubs, etc.
General care of the garden.
_Market-Garden._--Cultivation of one-twentieth acre of vegetables.
_School and Allotment-Gardens._--Cultivation of vegetables and
flowers, etc., in a centralized garden at or near the school or on
vacant lots.
_Corn Clubs._--Cultivation of one-tenth acre of corn.
_Potato Clubs._--Cultivation of one-twentieth acre of potatoes.
_Dairy Herd Clubs._--Keeping an accurate record of all milk
produced each day.
_Canning Clubs._--Canning fruit and vegetables for home use or for
market.
_Baking Clubs._--Baking bread and cake.
_Sewing Clubs._--Making garments and repairing.
_Handicraft Club._--Making useful articles for use in the home or
on the farm.
_Bird and Tree Clubs._--The study and recognition of birds and
trees.
Official enrollment cards will be sent to boys and girls who wish to
enroll in one or more of the projects mentioned above. When received,
their names will be sent to Washington, and Uncle Sam will correspond
with them occasionally and send them bulletins of information and
helpful letters. The State Leader or assistants will visit the local
clubs from time to time, to help them with their work; he will also send
helpful bulletins and letters as needed. Monthly reports will be
required from each member enrolled in the club work, giving an account
of his or her work.
The agent of the Extension Service of the Rhode Island State College
writes:
"Inclosed please find a brief explanation of the boys' and girls' club
work in agriculture, gardening, domestic science and handicraft work.
This is a splendid movement for the Improvement Society to take up and
encourage as a part of their constructive work in any community.
"The greatest asset in any community or state is the boys and girls who
are to be the men and women of to-morrow. We should see to it that they
are encouraged to be industrious and thrifty. Work of this kind will
provide a very profitable as well as an interesting occupation for many
idle moments after school, and through the long vacations for our boys
and girls. At this time of the year clean-up campaigns are being
started, and I would like to tack on to the end of that slogan the word
'plant-up.' I think that boys and girls should be encouraged not only to
'clean-up' the rubbish about their homes, but to invest a few cents in
seeds which will germinate and grow and produce a picture very much more
attractive than can be produced by many cans of paint and, furthermore,
if the right kind of plant is selected, the effect will be perennial."
An illustrated lecture on this subject may be secured at any time by
making application to the undersigned. Bulletins and circular letters
will be sent to the boys and girls who enroll in this club work from
time to time. Personal visits will also be made as often as possible
if desired.--ERNEST K. THOMAS.
[This is a kind of work every state needs.--A. H. W.]
=V. MAKING A BIRD CENSUS=
There are various ways of making or taking a bird-census, but all depend
for their success upon certain rules.
1. Define clearly the area in which the observations are taken.
2. Study carefully the occurrence of species in adjoining localities.
3. Note the differences of occurrence between the foregoing and the area
under observation.
4. Study reliable data of other observers, in order to avoid "wild
guesses" and to eliminate errors in your own observations.
5. Keep records in a usable form, so that data may be easily compared
from year to year.
6. Distinguish between permanent residents, transients, and summer or
winter residents or visitors, and accidental visitors.
7. When _in doubt_ as to the identity of a species, _never enter_ it in
the record, simply to swell the list. Continued study will enable you
eventually to determine the most puzzling occurrences.
8. Record carefully temperature, direction and velocity of wind, and if
possible, barometric pressure.
9. Chart the area studied, designating wooded places, pastures, marshy
and dry places, roadside, orchards, garden, and water spaces.
10. Study the destination and point of departure of migrating species.
11. Learn both the common names and the scientific names of species if
you intend to be strictly accurate. Common names of the same species
frequently differ in different localities and are therefore liable to be
misleading. Scientific names are easily mastered and usually have a
definite meaning, which will help you to remember some distinguishing
character or habit of a species.
12. Always be open to fair criticism, and to acknowledge errors in
observation. The most distinguished students of any subject are those
who profess to have the most to learn. A keen eye and quick brain are
indispensable to any student, and calm judgment must always precede
reliable conclusions.
A very practical illustration of how a bird-census may be taken is
described in Dr. C. F. Hodge's invaluable book, NATURE-STUDY AND LIFE.
The school-children of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, worked
together under Dr. Hodge's direction, and made a census of the
nesting-species in a city block for two seasons three years apart,
showing not only the number but also the increase and decrease of
nesting-species during that time.
From Marion, Virginia, comes a detailed census of the birds found in the
surrounding county during the spring migration. Space is not available
for printing in full this census, which includes some ninety odd
species, but the method followed, as explained by the following
communication, is of interest, and should prove helpful to students in
other localities. "The Woman's Club of Marion has an organized Audubon
Society of sixty pupils and four teachers. The three Junior classes are
taught once a week from the Audubon leaflets. The Senior Class has
helped take the census of Smythe County under the guidance of its
teacher. In sixteen field lessons, ninety-four species and eighteen
hundred and sixty-three birds of these species have been seen."
It should be added that these Audubon classes work together with the
Woman's Club and the Conservation Committee of Marion, thus fostering a
civic interest in bird-life among young and old. If more clubs would
interest themselves in organizing work of this kind, a great deal might
be learned about the local occurrence and movements of birds which would
be of use in following their migrations.--A. H. W.
=SUGGESTIONS=
1. Compare the methods of observation of Thoreau, Lanier and the author
of the jungle quotations.
2. Which author seems to know Nature best?
3. Do you know the trees in your neighborhood as well as Thoreau did
those about Concord and Walden Pond?
4. How many separate things in Nature are enumerated by Lanier in the
excerpt from "The Symphony?"
5. Are you familiar with these things?
6. What is miniver?
7. How did Thoreau learn so much about Nature?
8. Are Lanier's allusions to Nature exact?
9. If you wished to tell a person who knew nothing about Nature, what to
listen and look for, how many things could you name or describe to him?
10. Make a list of the trees, shrubs, and plants in your neighborhood.
11. Make a list of the spring migrants in your locality.
12. Make a study of what actually takes place during the transition from
winter to spring.--A. H. W.
=FOR AND FROM ADULT AND YOUNG OBSERVERS=
=SPRING=
Spring has come at last,
And the birds are flying fast
To our great Northern skies,
Where they think it's paradise.
The rustle of their little wings
Tells us of the coming Spring.
And their little notes of love
Are like the peaceful songs of Doves.
--VIRGINIA STEARNS (Nine years old), Milwaukee, Wis.
=MY BLUEBIRDS=
Early in December, 1914, my brother and I cut down an old half-dead
apple-tree, and on it we found a partly hollow log that the English
Sparrows had evidently used for years. As I had my eye out for
bird-houses, I confiscated it and finished hollowing it out. It made
three log-nests, all of which have been used by bird tenants since then.
On February 17, I put up two of the logs on the bank of the Ohio River,
at a distance of 40 feet from our house, where they could easily be
observed from nine different windows.
The site was ideal for a bird's nest. Below, 127 feet, the Ohio rolled
majestically by, flushed with the melted snow that the spring rains
brought from the mountains, and dotted here and there with floating
cakes of ice. The other bank of the river rose 329 feet above the level
of the water. It was heavily wooded and an ideal place for all kinds of
birds. As this is right in the path of the Mississippi Migration Route,
one could hear the "honk, honk," of Canada Geese, the talking notes of
the Old Squaw, and once the maniacal laughter of a Loon, as it followed
the Ohio to the mouth of the Beaver River, there probably resting and
continuing its journey up the Beaver to its northern nesting-ground.
Below, I give the dates of the important events in the Bluebirds'
history.
February 17. Nest-logs put up.
February 25. First Bluebird seen.
February 28. Three pairs looked at both logs, fought for them, and _my
pair_ rented it.
March 21. Nest completed.
March 26. First egg laid.
March 27. Second egg laid.
March 28. Third egg laid.
March 29. Fourth egg laid.
March 30. Fifth egg laid.
April 13. Young hatched.
April 29. Young left the nest.
Prior to March 29, the river bank had been burned over twice for the
purpose of improving the grass roots, but the Bluebirds never seemed to
mind it, although the nest was enveloped in clouds of thick smoke both
times. The last two days of March, and the first two of April were cold,
below freezing, with a driving snowstorm followed by sleet; but the
Bluebirds' activities never ceased. At this time the male passed the
night in the nest with the female, 'twinkling' into the log at sunset.
The male was very pugnacious, and seemed not to know fear. He would dash
with equal courage at a Flicker or a Song Sparrow, when they approached
his tree. Once I saw him actually knock a Flicker off a branch. Perhaps
he would not have succeeded had the Flicker been aware of his approach,
but the Bluebird came up behind and hit him below the belt. When I would
go near the nest, the male would utter 'chuckling' notes, as if to scold
and frighten me away. On several occasions he came so close that I could
almost touch him.
When the young were about four days old, I set up my camera, three feet
away from the nest, to obtain some pictures. The first time the shutter
snapped, the female hopped down on to the branch on which the camera was
placed, put her head to one side, and seemed to say, "What is this that
clicks in my face," and then she hopped all over it, pecking it.
[Illustration: GOING HOME Photographed by W. R. Boulton, Jr.]
Both parents were often seen cleaning the nest. They began to feed the
young at about eight o'clock every morning, and continued it steadily at
an average of every six or seven minutes until about six at night, using
as food almost exclusively a certain kind of bug that was very hairy,
brownish with black markings, and, except for the hair, might have been
mistaken for castor beans, being about the same size. They seemed a huge
mouthful for a young Bluebird. Several times a day I would climb up to
the nest and whistle softly like a Bluebird before the aperture. The
young would crane their necks and stretch their mouths for the supposed
food, although none was forthcoming.
[Illustration: LEAVING HOME Photographed by W. R. Boulton, Jr.]
When the young flew from the nest, I felt as though I had lost a family.
My grief was not such that I could not capture them, however, and after
counting noses, I found that one was missing. I climbed up and there I
found 'runtie' at the bottom of the nest, pitifully squeaking at being
left alone. I took out the bottom and extracted him. Finally, after half
an hour or more of posing, I got several good pictures of the babies on
a dead branch. When I opened the nest-log to clean it, I found a little
block of grasses about three inches in diameter and one inch high. It
fairly glistened with shed feather-sheaths. In the bottom were six or
seven bugs, of the species mentioned before, that had evidently escaped
the birds. Exactly two months after the first egg was laid, the second
nest of the same pair was nearing completion in another of my boxes.
Here are the dates.
May 29. First egg laid.
May 30. Second egg laid.
May 31. Third egg laid.
June 1. Fourth egg laid.
June 16. Young hatched.
June 23. Young have not flown yet.
While the female was incubating, the male still fed the young of the
first brood, although not so often as when they left the nest.--WOLFRID
RUDYERD BOULTON, JR. (Age 14 years), Beaver, Pa.
[Perhaps no better word of appreciation of this carefully worded
description of personal observations could be given than to quote from a
letter written by Mr. Herbert K. Job with reference to the data given by
Master Boulton, Jr.: "His accurate information about the periods of
incubation and rearing of the Bluebird came in handy to me just now, as
there is a pair in a box up-state which I want to 'film' at just the
right period, and now I can estimate when to make the trip." The
pictures illustrating this article were not only taken, but also
developed and finished by the observer.--A. H. W.]
=A MUSICAL WOODLAND=
Riding on my pony in a thick-set wood, I heard the "Feathered Musicians"
playing on their instruments.
First the trill of the Wood Thrush, then the sweet trill of the
Meadowlark, the rapidly repeated 'wickci' of the Flicker, the sweet
melody of the Robin, the charming song of the Song Sparrow, and the
'chip' of the Chipping Sparrow, were most delightful.
Far off in the distance I could hear the sweet Canary-like whistle of
the Goldfinch and the 'eak' of the Purple Grackle.
The woods rang with the music of the birds, for nothing is so sweet as
natural music.--SARAH W. WEAVER (Age 11 years), Baltimore County, Md.
["For nothing is so sweet as natural music."
This naive observation brings to mind the gurgle of brooks, waving
treetops, and hum of busy insects, as well as the music of feathered
songsters. It has the essence of spring in it, when awakening life so
quickly voices itself in melody.--A. H. W.]
=INTERESTING PERFORMANCE OF A TUFTED TITMOUSE=
While taking refuge from a slight April shower on the porch of an
unoccupied summer cottage at Lithia Springs, Ga., twenty miles from
Atlanta, I once witnessed an interesting performance by a Tufted
Titmouse. Having chosen a damp brown oak leaf from the ground, it flew
with it into a bare tree, and, holding the leaf with its claw firmly
against a branch, it drew itself to its full height, raised its head
like a Woodpecker, and with all the might of its tiny frame gave, a
forcible blow to the leaf with its bill. This process was kept up nearly
half an hour. The bird seemed utterly indifferent to the near presence
of my two friends and myself. Once it dropped the leaf, but immediately
picked it up and carried it back to the tree. A boy passed on the
sidewalk below. The bird flew to a higher branch. At last its purpose
seemed to be accomplished. It rested, and lifted the leaf by the
petiole. We then saw that the hammering had made it into a firm brown
ball nearly as large as an oak gall. The bird flew with it behind the
kitchen-ell of the cottage. We hurried around, and were met by the
Titmouse, empty-billed, who looked at us with an innocent, nonchalant
air. Had it dropped the ball into its nest-hole?--LUCY H. UPTON.
[Who can add any information which will throw light on this unusual
observation?--A. H. W.]
=TWILIGHT HOUR AT ASHAWAY=
The western sky, soft tinted with the hues of setting sun,
Lends beauty to the twilight shadows lengthening one by one,
Twined mystic'lly together by the stirring April breeze
That sends a message of awakening through the leafless trees.
The fresh, cool air, bearing the scent of new-ploughed earth
Gives promise of the future harvest soon to have its birth,
When garden, field and orchard, now wearing brown and gray,
Shall change these duller colors for the vernal green of May;
The farmer reads the happy signs and whistles in true glee
Jangling in haste his cans and milk-pails merrily;
While lazy cattle straggle up the rocky barnyard way,
And the impatient horses paw and whinny for their hay.
A scuffle and a cackle in the hen-coop near at hand
Give token where the mother hen broods o'er her fledgling band,
And Spotty seeks the hay-mow, purring loudly in her pride,
For there, in safety waiting her, three kittens do abide.
The Robins and the Bluebirds call and answer all around,
And the cheerful little peeptoads seem to crowd the air with sound,--
And yet it is not noisy. Joyous peace is everywhere,
And a consciousness of Heaven makes the twilight hour more fair.
--RUTH R. HAYDEN.
[This poem was written by a student in The Rhode Island State
Normal School. It is of unusual interest since the author, although
blind, undertook the course in nature-study and succeeded so well
that her instructor writes: "I am tempted to say that only those
are blind who _won't see_. I am convinced that the subject is most
valuable for classes in schools of the blind." See BIRD-LORE, Vol.
XIII, No. 6, p. 316.--A. H. W.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: FEMALE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, NEST AND YOUNG
Photographed by E. Jack]
* * * * *
=THE CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER=
By T. GILBERT PEARSON
The National Association of Audubon Societies
EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 85
Among the most charming birds in the world are the members of that group
classified as the family of Wood Warblers. There are about one hundred
and fifty-five known species, and they are found in no other country but
America. Seventy-four kinds occur in North America, and fifty-five of
these have been recorded in the United States.
They are small birds, the majority measuring rather less than five and
one-half inches from bill-tip to tail-tip. They are birds mainly of
woods and thickets, a few only venturing into open country. The
Warbler's bill is longer than that of most small birds, and is well
adapted for seizing the soft-bodied insects upon which it so largely
preys.
One of the most common members of the family in the Eastern States is
the Chestnut-sided Warbler. The general appearance of the male is that
of a particularly trim little bird with olive-green back and bright
yellow crown; the under parts are lighter, and the sides are marked by
deep chestnut--that is, this is the way the male looks in spring. At
this season the female is quite similar, although its colors are duller.
In the fall and winter the plumage presents a very different appearance.
The upper parts then are yellowish olive-green, sometimes with faint
streaks on the back. The deep-chestnut of the sides has given way to a
few spots or patches of this color.
In seeking the Chestnut-sided Warbler, one should go to woodlands that
have been cut over and grown up in bushes. There are found the
conditions which this bird dearly loves, and in such a situation one may
pass a whole forenoon and seldom be out of sight or hearing of one or
more of them.
The nest is made of strips of bark, soft dead leaf-stems, and similar
material; it is lined with tendrils and rootlets. Usually the nest is
from two and a half to three and a half feet from the ground. Rarely
have I found one so situated that it could not readily be reached by the
spring of an agile house-cat, and there is much evidence to show that
many are pulled down every year by these feline hunters.
It is commonly reported that as many as five eggs are deposited in the
nest before the bird begins sitting, but fully three-fourths of those
nests that I have found contained only four eggs. They are white, with
numerous brown markings of various shades--some distinct, others more or
less obscure, as if the inside of the shell had been painted and the
color was showing through. The spots and blotches are gathered chiefly
in a wreath about the larger end.
[Illustration: CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER
Order--PASSERES
Family--_Mniotiltidae_
Genus--Dendroica
Species--pennsylvanica
National Association of Audubon Societies]
They are pretty, dainty little objects, as is the case with all
Warblers' eggs. In size, they are about two-thirds of an inch long, and
half an inch in diameter at the largest place.
In the latitude of Boston, fresh eggs may usually be found late in May
or in the first week of June.
The Chestnut-sided Warbler feeds almost exclusively on insects. John
James Audubon wrote that once in Pennsylvania, during a snowstorm in
early spring, he examined the dead bodies of several, and found that
their stomachs contained only grass-seeds and a few spiders. The birds
were very poor, and evidently were in a half-starved condition, which
would probably account for the fact that they had been engaged in such
an un-warbler-like act as eating seeds. Ordinarily this bird is highly
insectivorous, and feeds very largely on leaf-eating caterpillars. It
also collects plant-lice, ants, leaf-hoppers, small bark-beetles, and,
in fact, is a perfect scourge to the small insect-life inhabiting the
foliage of the bushes and trees where it makes its home. Sometimes the
birds take short flights in the air after winged insects. It will thus
be seen that the Chestnut-sided Warbler is of decided value as a
guardian of trees, which is reason enough why the legislators of the
various states where the bird is found were induced to enact the Audubon
Law for its protection.
All birds that depend so much on insects for their livelihood as does
the Chestnut-sided Warbler are necessarily highly migratory. By the
middle of September nearly all have departed from their summer home,
which, we may say roughly, covers the territory of the southern Canadian
Provinces from Saskatchewan eastward, and extends southward as far as
Ohio and New Jersey. They are also found in summer along the Alleghany
Mountains in Tennessee and South Carolina. Most of the migrants go to
Central America by way of the Gulf of Mexico, and only a comparatively
small number travel to Florida and the Bahama Islands.
The song of the Chestnut-sided Warbler is confused in the minds of some
listeners with that of the Yellow Warbler. Mathews says the song
resembles the words, "I wish, I wish, I wish to see Miss Beecher."
Mr. Clinton G. Abbott, writing in BIRD-LORE in 1909, told most
entertainingly of the fortunes of a pair of these Warblers and their
nest, which he watched one summer. After telling of finding a nest from
which all the eggs had been thrown but one, and in their place had been
deposited two eggs of the Cowbird, he says: