ORNITHOLOGY 



335 



Planting Fruit Trees for Robins. 



BY ARMSTRONG I'ERRV. XEW YORK CITY. 



The movement for the ]:)rotection of 

 song birds has been so effective in Al- 

 legheny County, Pennsylvania, that the 

 robins have multiplied and become a 

 nuisance. 



They feed on cherries ■ and other 

 small fruits. As they often take a bite 

 out of a cherry without eating the 

 whole of it, they destroy much more 

 than they devour. 



However, no one in Allegheny Coun- 

 ty wants the robins killed. After a 

 careful study of the situation a method 

 was discovered which it is believed will 

 save the fruit and also the robins. 



Of all the small fruits, the robin likes 

 the mulberry best, it is said. The mul- 

 berry is as large and as lucious as the 

 backberry. it grows on a tree as large 

 as a cherry tree, and the mulberry tree 

 bears fruit continuously all through the 

 summer season, so there you are ! 



The boys and girls of Allegheny 

 County have been given young mul- 

 berry trees to plant and have been told 

 where and how to plant them. Next 

 year six thousand of these trees will be 

 bearing, if all goes well, and robin red- 

 breast can fill his tummv without in- 

 currinsr the wrath of the fruit g-rowers. 



Educational Bird Leaflets. 



The list of Educational Leaflets is- 

 sued by the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies now contains 

 eighty-nine species of birds. Each of 

 these is a four-page leaflet, fully de- 

 scribing the bird in question, together 

 with its habits, range and general use- 

 fulness. Each leaflet is accompanied 

 by a beautiful colored plate of the spec- 

 ies described, and many of them also 

 contain half-tone illustrations from act- 

 ual photographs. 



Through the benevolence of persons 

 interested in this work, these leaflets 

 are sold at practically the cost of is- 

 suing, and may be obtained in lots 

 five or over at the normal price of two 

 cents each, single copies being sold for 

 ten cents. This is an exceptional op- 

 portunity for anyone interested in birds 

 to obtain accurate and reliable descrip- 

 tions and information of species con- 

 tained in this list. New leaflets are 

 constantly being added and complete 



lists may be ()l)taiiied by addressing the 

 National Association of Audubon Soc, 

 1974 Broadway, New York, where cop- 

 ies may be purchased at prices mention- 

 ed, postpaid. A large variety of books, 

 bird-boxes and feeding devices may al- 

 so be purchased at these headcjuarters. 

 This will all help the cause of bird con- 

 servation, as well as to bring joy and 

 delight to those who participate in this 

 work and study. 



Further Telescopic Observations of 

 Migrating Birds. 



The Harrold Observatory, 

 Leetonia, Ohio. 

 To the Editor : 



I was much interested in the article 

 in regard to the telescopic observation 

 of migrating birds at Paterson, N. J. 



I have often watched the migrating 

 birds fly across the moon, and find the 

 best conditions for these observations 

 to be on a cool night, with a light wind 

 blowing from the direction towards 

 which the birds are flying; as it is 

 easier to fly against the wind than from 

 it. On full-moon-light nights in the 

 migrating season, it is the rule for me 

 to count from ten to fifty birds a 

 minute passing across this field of view, 

 this rate continuing throughout the 

 night. 



Nearly all birds migrate in the night, 

 and I often hear them on moon-less 

 nights in the same large numbers as on 

 a moon-light night. I often get large 

 lists of species on these nights, just 

 from their notes, as I am able to iden- 

 tify nearly two hundred species by their 

 calls alone. 



Frequently I have made these obser- 

 varions in company with a friend. We 

 would then have two telescopes, setting 

 them up from ten to thirty feet apart, 

 and thus getting the altitude and dis- 

 tance of the birds. From several hun- 

 dred such comparisons I find that the 

 rails fly about the lowest of all, — about 

 1200 feet. The sparrows, flycatchers, 

 warblers, thrushes, ducks and a lot of 

 other species fly from a thousand to 

 two thousand feet high. The terns fly 

 the highest of all birds, — nearly a mile 

 high on the average. Plover fly from 

 1500 to 2000 feet high, while the other 

 shore birds fly at a height averaging 

 from two thousand to three thousand 

 feet. 



