Photograph by Ernest Harold Baynes 



A BALTIMORE ORIOLE AFTER A BATH 



The Baltimore oriole is remarkable for its bright colors, and to these it owes its name, 

 as the livery of the Lords Baltimore, who founded Maryland, was orange and black of just 

 those tones that the bird exhibits. Cats have been ehminated on this place. 



interesting experiences on a game pre- 

 serve in Connecticut, where low-lying 

 areas have been flooded and the wild 

 ducks attracted in increasing numbers 

 each year from miles around (see picture, 

 page 175). 



I know of one man in Canada who 

 several years ago fed a small flock of 

 wild geese that chanced to alight in a 

 pond close beside his house. The geese 

 appreciated the treatment so much that 

 they later returned with friends, and 

 have kept it up from year to year until 

 now I believe that he has had at one time 

 several hundred wild geese virtually in 

 his front yard, and in a very exposed 

 position at that. They seem absolutely 

 fearless, come and go at will, though only 

 a short distance away are gunners who 

 are waiting to take a crack at them. 



Only a few of us have ponds to which 

 geese may be attracted, but the foregoing 

 experiment shows what can be and has 

 been done in the way of attracting and 

 taming locally the shy wild geese. 



HOUSES FOR THE BIRDS 



Of bird-houses, to be supplied for those 

 birds that nest about buildings or in 



holes of trees, there seems to be an al- 

 most infinite variety — tree stumps, real 

 or artificial, boxes, cottages, houses, large 

 and elaborate mansions, barrel-hovtses, 

 gourds, flower-pots, tin cans, shelves, 

 and all kinds of contraptions. 



Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton went so 

 far as to construct on his place in Con- 

 necticut a huge artificial stump, filled 

 with imitation woodpeckers' holes, etc. 

 He attracted numbers of dififerent kinds 

 of birds and animals, and he seems to 

 have had no end of fun with it. It is not 

 allowed to all of us, however, to be given 

 either the opportunity or the enthusiasm 

 possessed by Mr. Seton. 



Of the various kinds of houses space 

 will allow but brief mention. On my 

 own place, which is covered largely with 

 woods, I have used one special type of 

 vertical boxes with considerable success. 

 These are simply sections of logs, hol- 

 lowed out by special machinery in a very 

 particular manner to represent wood- 

 pecker cavities, with entrance hole in 

 side, of desired diameter, and covered by 

 a wooden cap or roof that may be lifted 

 for purposes of investigation or in order 

 that the nests may be cleaned out from 



176 



