The Audubon Societies 339 



Bluebirds, and others for Purple Martins. There were several squirrel-boxes 

 made, five feeding-stations, and a bird-bath for the schoolyard. 



The bird-bath is about 3^^ feet high. It is made from cedar bark. The 

 basin is 14 inches in diameter. 



On May 20 we found a dead Canadian Warbler. Others were seen after 

 that. We looked in a bird-book about Warblers, and found there that the 

 Canadian Warbler answered the description of this bird. We hope to see some 

 drinking from our bird-bath when they are journeying past. 



The fifth and sixth grades have been watching young birds, especially 

 Robins and Flickers, learning to fly. It reminds you of Phoebe Cary's poem 

 'Don't Give Up.' 



Two bird-charts have been made. On one we pasted the pictures of the 

 birds as we saw them. Cardinals, Cedar Waxwings, Wrens, Robins, Blue 

 Jays, Warblers, and others were seen. The other chart is made up of three 

 lists, one for the date, one for the name of the finder, and one for the name of 

 the bird. They are now at the Civic Exposition in Philadelphia. — Margaret 

 PusEY (Age 10 years). Sixth Grade. 



[It is especially interesting to hear of charts being made in sixth-grade work. It is 

 not only valuable to have charts to place on exhibit, but also to keep in the schoolroom 

 for comparison from year to year. The main difficulty with much of our bird-work, both 

 elementary and advanced, is that observers are not willing to go to the trouble of keeping 

 careful records of what they see and hear. Form the habit early of setting down in 

 clear, accurate form a record of all that is seen or heard in the field. Sometime you will 

 have a set of records of great value to which others as well as yourself can refer. — A. H.W.] 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW 



As everyone always seems to be running down the English Sparrow, I 

 think it is time somebody said some nice things of it. 



Let us first consider the fact that if this bird had not been very much 

 needed by us it never would have been imported here. This took place in 

 Brooklyn, New York, in 1851-1852. 



The EngUsh Sparrow rears its young by the half-dozen in all sorts of 

 places. It does not make any difference to it whether it has a palace or a shed 

 for its home, and it always makes the best of it even if it is a shed, and this 

 shows that it is not a fault finding bird but is happy and satisfied in any 

 surroundings. 



Although I will have to admit that it does a great deal of damage by eating 

 so much grain, it overbalances this by eating millions of ants' eggs and killing 

 large quantities of insects. 



Although it does not sing as sweetly as the Song Sparrow, it certainly is a 

 pleasure to watch a flock of English Sparrows in winter, when our other bird 

 friends have left us, and the ground is covered with ice and snow. 



I think we should all admire the bravery of these little feathered folk, for 



