ORNITHOLOGY 



109 



The birds' apparent abundance and 

 tameness have given bird lovers a de- 

 lightful opportunity to observe them at 

 close range, but the lack of food, es- 

 pecially with certain species, and the 

 effects of the prolonged cold storms 

 seem to have produced disastrous re- 

 sults in some localities. Many birds 

 have been reported in a starving con- 

 dition or have been picked up dead. 

 Cats have doubtless caught an unusual 

 number of the migrants. Two in- 

 stances in which cats caught warblers 

 near the ground have come to my per- 

 sonal attention. The early nesting 

 birds have probably also suffered con- 

 siderably from the effects of the storms. 

 Species which usually remain away 

 from thickly settled districts have been 

 reported about the streets and in yards, 

 apparently seeking food. 



The general effect of these unusual 

 conditions will probably show itself 

 later in the season by an abundance of 

 insects. Their escape from the birds in 

 their early stages ; the favorable con- 

 ditions for their later development, and 

 the unusual denseness of the foliage 

 upon which they feed, will all tend to 

 bring about this result. This being a 

 season when we more than ever need 

 to conserve our crops, we should do all 

 in our power to fight insect pests and 

 to protect and encourage the birds 

 about our homes. 



The editor of this department would 

 especially like to receive notes in re- 

 gard to the foregoing items. If you 

 know of any nests destroyed or aban- 

 doned on account of the storms, any 

 birds found dead or seen to be caught 

 by cats, or if you have made unusual 

 observations upon the migrating birds 

 of this season, write and tell us about 

 them. 



The Gulls. 



The gulls have settled upon the bay, 

 As restless there as the tossing spray: 

 They flutter and preen in the glancing light. 

 An islet of birds, for a novel sight. 



A yacht looms up 'gainst the sunset skies, 

 A target for ever-watchful eyes: 

 Full well they know it a supper brings, 

 And the air is filled with the whir of wings. 



— Emma Peirce. 



The Whippoorwill. 



BY BESSIE Lu PUTNAM, CONNEAUT LAKE, 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



This bird is easily identified by its 

 notes, which are uttered with great 

 rapidity, the word from which it takes 

 its name being sometimes repeated a 

 hundred times or more without seem- 

 inglv a single stopping to take breath. 

 Its notes commence about sunset, and 

 may be prolonged through the night. 

 To those unacquainted with its good 

 traits, this has been a source of an- 

 noyance, and one girl who was visiting 

 in the country for the first time was 

 quite provoked because unable to sleep 

 with that chatterer near her window. 



It flies at night, and partly because 

 of this some stories of its uncanny 

 wavs and mysterious powers for evil 

 have given to it a bit of awe among 

 the superstitious. Yet it is really one 

 of man's best friends, catching an im- 

 mense number of harmful, nocturnal 

 insects. Because of its preference for 

 insect life, it is strictly a summer bird, 

 and the old resident states that we are 

 safe from frosts when the whippoor- 

 wills arrive. 



It sleeps by day like the owl ; and if 

 disturbed, its flight is almost as noise- 

 less as that of a falling leaf, while the 

 colors of plumage blend so completely 

 with the surrounding trunks of trees 

 and dead leaves that one can scarcely 

 locate it, even though they know just 

 where it lit. A striking feature is that 

 it always sits lengthwise of the limb 

 or log upon which it rests, thus con- 

 cealing its outlines more completely. 

 Its nest is slackly made in dry leaves ; 

 but if molested it is said to remove its 

 young as carefully as a cat does her 

 kittens. And thus it is one of the 

 many illustrations that the Divine hand 

 is over all, its sleeping by daylight be- 

 ing counterbalanced by protective col- 

 oring, silent flight, and unusual pose 

 when at rest. 



As a result of the whaling industry 

 established within a few decades at 

 South Georgia, near Cape Horn, the 

 islands have become overrun with rats. 

 Millions of them live on the carcasses 

 of the whales, and they have killed off 

 most of the small creaturees who pre- 

 ceded them. 



