The Audubon Societies 



135 



In writing us of his experiences, Dr. 

 Fisher says: 



"Quail, Ducks, Tree Sparrows, Son^ 

 Sparrows and Cardinals are fed on cracked 

 wheat, rolled oats, and finely chopped suet. 

 The Crested Titmice, Chickadees, Juncocs, 

 and Downy Woodpeckers, feed regularly 

 on suet placed in the cocoanut shells. I 

 also feed the birds on the ground with a 



DOWNY WOODPECKER FEEDING ON A 



COCOANUT 



Photographed by H. S. Barker 



mixture of chopped suet, hemp seed and 

 rolled oats. 



"I first got the idea of feeding birds dur- 

 ing winter about forty years ago from one 

 of my old friends at Lake George, who used 

 up at least twenty-five pounds of fat pork 

 and suet each winter in feeding the Chick- 

 adees, Nuthatches and Woodpeckers. 

 These birds became so tame as to alight 

 on the heads and shoulders of the chil- 

 dren standing near the feeding-stations. 

 If the habit of putting out animal food 

 for birds should become universal, I 



believe tliat the Woodpeckers would 

 materially increase in number, as these 

 specialized birds must have difficulty in 

 securing an adequate amount of insect 

 food."— T. G. P. 



White Egret Protection 



An unpaid agent of this Association 

 has been camping in South Florida, and 

 writes us, under date of February 27, 191 2, 

 that he has found a large colony of Amer- 

 ican Egrets, which he estimates at 600 

 birds, which are roosting with several 

 thousand Ibises. The spot they occupy 

 is near the place which a little later will 

 be their breeding-grounds. In fact, he 

 states, the White Ibis are already begin- 

 ning to make their nests. 



The following is a quotation from his 

 letter: 



"I spent two days and nights camped 

 here, and made three counts of the Egrets 

 as they came in to roost or left in the 

 morning. The first time I saw 522, the 

 next 534, and the last evening counted 541. 



"This is the scene where we shortly 

 found that the plumers were shooting 

 them, and the last night, as I was count- 

 ing, shooting commenced on the other 

 side of the Cypress, at least a mile from 

 camp, and we counted 123 shots. Evi- 

 dently four men with shotguns were 

 shooting them at their roost, which is 

 two miles from where they will nest. 



"It is getting too dark to cross the Big 

 Cypress at night, so, early in the morning 

 the guide and I crossed. I carried my 

 camera, for I wanted to get some pictures, 

 to show you just what is going on. 



"The alligators and wildcats had eaten 

 most of the bodies, but I counted 41, and 

 there must have been twice that number 

 killed. I found three with the plumes still 

 on, that evidently were lost in the dark- 

 ness, and one was lodged in a tree, as 

 shown in the picture. 



"We waded over a mile, waist deep, to 

 find the camp of the hunters, and found 

 it just deserted, the fire still burning, and 

 showing that four men had just departed 

 on horseback. 



