The Audubon Societies 187 



AN EXPERIENCE WITH CARDINALS 



I am a member of the Junior Audubon Society of Alexandria, Va., and we 

 have a very large society. We have been studying some very interesting birds. 



One day last summer I went out walking and saw a Cardinal. He looked 

 like a huge ball of fire. He would fly into the meadow and light on the ground. 

 I thought he must have his nest there, but he did not. He and some others 

 were eating corn in the meadow. The farmer had cut it and left some in the 

 field. It had shucks on it, and I shucked some and put it aside. Then I got 

 about thirty feet away and stood like a tree. The Cardinal and his mate 

 came and ate about twelve grains of corn. I noticed that the mother bird did 

 not eat her food. She took it and flew away to a cluster of trees where I saw 

 her stop. Soon I saw her coming back after more, and she found the father 

 bird still gobbling the food down. After seeing him do this I lay down on the 

 ground, because he was looking right at me. I thought he would go any minute, 

 but he did not. I could have stayed there all night, and watched that bird 

 work for her little ones. — Roy Mander (Grade IV; age 12 years), Aldie, Va. 



[Boys and girls who are interested in birds get much more pleasure out of their walks 

 through the country than those who are not, and they grow up to be much more observant 

 and efficient men and women. — A. A. A.] 



BLUEBIRDS DRIVE AWAY THE SPARROWS 



We boys, Charles Emerson and Edward Dana, made some bird-houses 

 out of starch-boxes. We saw our first Bluebirds on the 24th and decided to 

 put our boxes up. That day we saw the male Bluebird investigating them. 

 The English Sparrows immediately found them and Mr. Bluebird has had a 

 hard time fighting for our boxes. He drives them away and they come back, 

 but he keeps persistently at it. 



On the 27th he brought his pretty little mate to see all the boxes. They 

 have hung around one of ours chiefly, and we have hopes that they are going 

 to nest in it. Every once in a while a Sparrow flies into the tree, but he drives 

 it away. It is a very pretty sight to see the female perching on the door and 

 the male on top on guard. 



We have seen a good many different species of birds this year, including 

 Herring Gulls, Downy Woodpecker, Crows, Chickadees, Acadian Owl, Even- 

 ing Grosbeak, Redpolls, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bluebirds, Robins, Juncos, Fox 

 Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Flickers, Bronzed Grackle, and Phoebe. 



We saw large flocks of Juncos, Fox Sparrows, and Song Sparrows together, 

 and two Flickers and a Robin in the same tree. We got within four or five 

 feet of the Downy. — Edward F. Dana, and Charles P. Emerson, Portland, 

 Maine. 



[Would that there were more boys like Edward and Charles to build boxes for the 

 birds and to keep lists of the birds which they see. — A. A. A.] 



