The nest is a soft cushion of leaves and moss, and when filled with eggs, 

 closely resembles a hen's nest. It is difficult to find because the bird covers it 

 with leaves when she goes away from it. The young can run about as soon 

 as they are hatched and when ten days old they begin to fly. 



If you come suddenly upon a mother bird and her little ones, she will sound 

 an alarm note to them and then flutter and limp away as though her wing or leg 

 were broken. Follow her a short distance and she will rise and sail ofif with 

 perfect ease. Turn now to find her chicks and they are nowhere to be seen. At 

 their mother's signal they squatted on the ground or dived under the leaves out 

 of sight. They are so near the color of dead leaves that they can rarely be 

 found. Instead of trying to find them, hide yourself and await the return of 

 the mother. Soon a few call notes from her will unite the family and as they 

 move away together, you are glad that you did not capture one of those fluflfy 

 balls of yellow. 



(Copyright, 1911, by Herman C. De Groat.) 



The New Bird (Bill) Law 



By Alvin W. Mumford 



One of the last measures signed by ex-President Taft was the bird bill regu- 

 lating the shooting of migratory birds and extending the closed season for insec- 

 tivorous birds to one year in most of the states. These new regulations were 

 approved by President Wilson October 1, 1913, the beginning of the annual 

 hunting season, and became a law, going into effect at once. 



]\Iuch is due the agricultural schools for this measure. At last the birds 

 are decorated with a law that means something. In some states this new law- 

 will not materially affect the hunting privileges, because it will not make any 

 greater restrictions than are imposed by the state laws already in existence. In 

 others the change will be more keenly felt. The five years' closed season for 

 certain game birds, the prohibition of shooting between sunset and sunrise, and 

 the long closed season for birds along certain navigable rivers are the most im- 

 portant features of the new regulations. 



The Department of Agriculture was authorized to formulate regulations 

 covering the points needed for the Federal protection of migratory birds. These 

 regulations fixed and prescribed the closed seasons with due regard to tempera- 

 ture, breeding habits and the times and lines of migration of the different classes 

 of birds. A committee of experts upon the subjects involved prepared these 

 regulations. The knowledge possessed by the committee upon the habits of birds 

 enabled them to fix suitable districts in different parts of the country in which it 

 .«;hall be unlawful to shoot, kill or capture migratory birds, and at the same time 

 to give the hunter all the sport possible without threatening the total extinction 

 (>\ the birds. W'licrc liic states have suitable laws for protection of the migratory 



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