i5o 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A Song Sparrow's Nest. 



BY H. W. WEISGERBER, SALEM, OHIO. 



I believe that little birds are often hard 

 pressed for ideal nesting sites, while at 

 other times such sites are so numerous 



A SECLUDED NEST. 



that, like many a human, the bird scarcely 

 knows which one to choose. The bird 

 that built the nest shown in the picture 

 must have been bothered somewhat in 

 that way. Locations were numerous, in 

 fact, too numerous, so she wisely selected 

 a place which even a cowbird would have 

 found difficult to enter. 



The nest was so well hidden that the 

 camera man nearly missed getting a pic- 

 ture of it. But three of the four eggs 

 show. So far as I know the parent bird 

 succeeded in raising her brood, for at my 

 last visit to the place the nest was empty 

 and did not look as though it had been 

 disturbed. 



Whenever photographing a nest I al- 

 ways stand as far back as possible and 

 never touch nest or eggs. If any offend- 

 ing grass or brush needs to be removed I 

 alwavs use a stick or a pencil. The Cf^-^s 

 too, if it is necessary to arrange them 

 in any way, can be .shifted by the aid of 



the rubber tip on the pencil without fear 

 of breaking them. At the best it is 

 dangerous to take the picture of a bird's 

 nest, for a varmint of one kind or another 

 will often follow man's tracks, find the 

 nest and thus get a meal of eggs or of 

 young birds. Unless I step near a nest 

 accidentally, I always keep three or four 

 feet from it. 



How Birds Soar. 



BY NORMAN S. DAYTUX_, PALM SPRINGS, 

 CALIFORNIA. 



A boy, whose reasoning powers were 

 not satisfied witli half truths, having 

 read that the condor and the buzzard 

 can rise to great heights by merely bal- 

 ancing with outstretched wings, using 

 little if any efifort in their aerial climb- 

 ing, could not accept the mystery with- 

 out further questioning. Xot having 

 heard a plausable explanation of this 

 seeming paradox, the conversation with 

 this inquiring youth suggested to the 

 writer the thought that this problem 

 might be puzzling others wdio are not in 

 a position to trace the natural phenom- 

 ena that accompany these strange soar- 

 ing feats. 



Those not familiar with the extreme 

 southwest of our land will by referring 

 to the map notice the long arm of Lower 

 California extending southward into the 

 tropical ocean. The Gulf of California 

 is an inland sea, its waters being acces- 

 sible only to the tropical ocean. The up- 

 per end of this almost tropical gulf is fill- 

 ing, principally with the erosions of the 

 Grand Canon of the Colorado. This vast 

 delta of the Colorado River forms an 

 enticing feeding ground for the migra- 

 tory waterfowl tired by their long flights 

 as they follow the coast. 



On their northward journey when the 

 summer's heat ])egins to urge, the great 

 flocks rise, forming the usual broad \'. 

 The strongest bird, taking the center of 

 the V as leader, begins to beat the air ; 

 the other birds each dro]:) into the eas>' 

 position where the force of the air is 

 broken by the one next in advance. As 

 the Colorado would lead them far from 

 the Pacific if they tried to reach its 

 source, thev turn westward to a break in 

 the mountains where the snow covered, 

 towering sentinels of the San Jacinto and 

 San Bernardino Ranges guard the trav- 

 elers by their peaks two miles in height. 



