320 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



and we are glad that the financial help 

 came from a woman, because women 

 and their desire to decorate their hats 

 with egrets, have been among the 

 greatest enemies of certain birds, the 

 white herons for example. \\'e are 

 glad that the commendable deed was 

 accomplished by a man. especially by 

 one who has acquired fame by making 

 the things of the table more appetizing. 

 The greatest enemies of the wild ducks 

 have been men, especially those who 

 have sought for a table luxury. 



Air. Mcllhenny is an honored mem- 

 ber of the Agassiz Association. We 

 are glad of that, because this is great 

 and good work in behalf of an exceed- 

 ingly important phase of nature. His 

 example cannot fail to be inspiring to 

 others. 



Winged Prophets of Spring. 



BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, ADAMS, N. Y. 



If by "first signs" we mean "first 

 prophecies" of spring, then must we 

 take from merle and mavis their long 

 worn laurels, and bestow them on "the 

 blackest of them all." The high riving 

 recruits, the regular morning and 

 evening flights to or from a common 

 roosting place, a something new in the 

 more frequent "caws," have made 

 spring already an old story. The first 

 robin or bluebird tells me nothing that 

 I had not heard, their news is old. The 

 chickadee and the white-breasted nut- 



hatch have sung it and the downy 

 woodpecker has hammered it out long 

 weeks a«'o. 



THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 







'THE BLACKEST OF THEM ALL." 



