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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



deep they needed a hig^i foundation, but 

 the bird box had the opening near the 

 floor and yet nearly the same amount 

 of wire was used. So I have ahiiost 

 decided that the birds use the wire for 

 ventilation. The fact, however, is inter- 

 esting and it is one house cleaning time 

 in which 1 am much interested, to see 

 what is inside of each wire nest. 



Grace H. Poole. 



Another Unusual Wren's Nest. 



^Meriden, Connecticut. 

 To the Editor : 



In the April number of The GrjiDE To 

 Nature the item entitled, "Wren's Nest 

 Built of Wiie,"" especially interested me 

 as I had a somewhat similar builder ui)o:i 

 my premises last summer. 



Late in May a solitary house wren 

 visited a small bird house that 1 had 

 placed in a wild cherry tree, ?nd after 

 a careful examination began to carry in 

 building material. Wrens had used this 

 house the year before, and I had carefully 

 cleaned it, hoping that they would lease 

 it for another season. Consequently I 

 v/atched with great satisfaction as the 

 male sang his glad song and busied him- 

 self in constructing the nest. But his 

 mate appeared to be missing. 



Eor several days he worked about the 

 place, but if he brought a prospective 

 bride the home or the prospects could 

 not have been satisfactory for the nest 

 remained unoccupied. 



In November the bird house was taken 

 down and the nest building material was 

 found to contain twenty-six pieces of 

 rusty wire from poultry netting, three 

 nails and two safety pins besides the 

 usual supply of twigs. 



If wrens continue to search for metallic 

 building material, they will become the 

 favorite birds of the junk dealers this 

 summer. 



Lester W. Smith. 



Fearless Prairie Horned Larks. 



Uniontown, Penna. 

 To the Editor : 



About the middle of March, after 

 most of the birds had returned from 

 the South, we had a sudden cold snap 

 accompanied by a heavy fall of snow 

 and many of the birds Avere driven 

 into the outskirts of the city in search 

 of food. While returning home on the 

 evening of the 15th, I noticed feeding 



with the English sparrows in the street 

 a pair of unusual birds, which I sur- 

 mised to be a species of the horned 

 lark. The male was light grayish in 

 color, with black bands on the head 

 and throat and a small tuft of black 

 feathers on each side of the head, re- 

 sembling horns His mate was darker 

 in color and lacked the horns. 



Both birds were very tame and, when 

 I stood motionless for a few minutes, 

 they hopped up within three feet of me 

 and' seemed absolutely fearless. When 

 a wagon or street-car passed, they 

 would fly up with a little "tsee" and 

 soon settle to feeding again. I do not 

 know whether these birds are consider- 

 ed rare or not, but I have never before 

 seen them in this vicinity. 



Robert C. Miller. 



^ ^ ■^ ^,: ^,: 



These birds were probably prairie 

 horned larks, and while usually inhc.b- 

 iting old pastures and barrens, should 

 not be uncommon in this general local- 

 ity.— H. G. H. 



Since the burning of the Dominion 

 Parliament building, both branches of 

 the Canadian legislature have had to 

 be housed in the nearby Museum of 

 the Geological Survey. 



The Italian government has at length 

 waked up to the long-standing crime 

 of slaughtering song birds for food. '^^ 

 law went into el^ect on January first 

 prohibiting the shooting of all song 

 and insectivorous birds through the 

 kingdom. Since Italy is in the path of 

 the annual migrations, the results of 

 this new legislation may prove far- 

 reachins:. 



The remarkably warm January of this 

 year in eastern United States had its 

 counterpart in England. The records of 

 the Greenwich Observatory, which are 

 virtually complete for a century, show 

 that the past January outdid the famous 

 January of 1834 by a whole degree in 

 average temperature, equalled the still 

 more remarkable January of 1841, and 

 has not been matched within two degrees 

 in any year since. Five times, in Eng- 

 land, in the last thirty years, Aprils have 

 been colder than this January. In seven- 

 tv-five vears only two Decembers and one 

 Februarv have been as waruL 



