J^otes from Jftelti anD ^tuDj> 



Birds Through a Telescope 



The season is approaching when the 

 migration of birds may be studied to 

 advantage through a telescope. A 2- 

 inch hand glass may be used, though a 

 higher power is preferable. It should be 

 focused on the moon, across the surface 

 of which the bird is seen passing. 



September 3, 1887, at Tenafly, N. J., 

 Mr. John Tatlock, Jr , and myself, using a 

 6j4-inch equatorial, saw 262 birds cross 

 the moon's disc between the hours of 

 eight and eleven (The Auk, V, p. 37), and 

 we have since repeated the observation. 



Studies of this nature should throw 

 much light on the question of ' highways of 

 migration, ' and at the same time furnish 

 an idea of the number of birds passing 

 through a given space during a given time ; 

 and, more particularly, they should tell us 

 the height at which birds perform their 

 nocturnal journeys. 



Mr. Tatlock and myself solved this 

 latter problem by a hypothetical assump- 

 tion of the inferior and superior distances 

 at which a bird would be visible. In this 

 way we arrived at the conclusion that the 

 birds seen were between one and three 

 miles above the earth. 



Until recently this theory has lacked 

 confirmation, but I now learn from Dr. 

 William R. Brooks, Director of Smith 

 Observatory, at Geneva, N. Y. , that 

 during the evening of May 23, 1899, while 

 observing the moon through his lo^-inch 

 refracting telescope, using a power of 100 

 diameters, he saw some forty birds cross 

 the field of vision. Dr. Brooks states that 

 from the distinctness of the image and the 

 fact that from three to five seconds were 

 required by each bird to cross the seg- 

 ment of the moon in the field of the 

 telescope, he estimates the birds to have 

 been distant about seven and a half miles, 

 and further calculation, based on this 

 estimate, places them about two miles 

 above the earth. — Frank M. Chapman. 



The Cardinal in Maine 



This incident is vouched for by Mrs. L. 

 M. N. Stevens, National President of the 

 W C. T. U. 



Several years ago, after the first snow- 

 fall at Stroudwater, Maine, Mr. Stevens 

 hurried into the house one morning to ask 

 his wife to come and see a handsome, but 

 cold and hungry-looking, red bird, in a 

 shrub near the door. Mrs. Stevens saw 

 that it was a Cardinal Grosbeak, and, 

 placing some food in a large cage, she set 

 it near the bush. The Cardinal soon 

 hopped inside, and was safely convoyed 

 indoors under cover of a blanket. A 

 happy season began. He was given the 

 freedom of the room, and became very 

 tame and companionable. 



In the spring, as soon as the red bird 

 grew restless and the weather mild, he 

 was let loose, and flew away. 



In the fall, with the first cold snap, 

 came the Cardinal, to spend his second 

 winter in the old home. 



Again in the spring, when the restless- 

 ness re-appeared, Mrs. Stevens wanted to 

 let the bird fly, but yielded to the judg- 

 ment of her husband, who advised delay, 

 lest cold and hunger overtake the little way- 

 farer. Nature, however, avenged the 

 violation of instinct ; in a few days the 

 Cardinal drooped, refused to avail him- 

 self of liberty, and died. — Ella Gilbert 

 Ives, Dorchester, Mass. 



A Useful Bird 



In speaking of the economic value of cer- 

 tain of our birds, a lecturer, quoting Pro- 

 fessor Beal, said that in Iowa the Tree 

 Sparrow was estimated to destroy 875 tons 

 of the seeds of no.xious weeds annually. 



As reported in a local paper, this state- 

 ment read : " The Tree or Chipping Spar- 

 row destroyed, as discovered by scientific 

 observation, 640,000 tons of the eggs and 

 young of harmful insects." 



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