268 Bird -Lore 



warden who keeps a day-book of all happenings, and records migrants and nest- 

 ing residents, is a sure shot of cats, and looks out in all ways for bird welfare. 



The bungalow, begun in July, 1914, was ready for occupancy by the mid- 

 dle of September. 



Stones were gathered about the grounds to build a great fireplace in the 

 committee-room, and also for the gate-posts. The latter were adapted by 

 The Commuter from the design of a cathedral tower; the rose- windows in the 

 original being replaced by nesting-holes in the taller post, while the font-like 

 cap of the shorter post made a shallow bathing-place for small birds, that was 

 immediately appropriated by Wrens and Song Sparrows. The gate, as well 

 as the pergola porch of the bungalow, was made of rough-hewn chestnut, the 

 better to hold the fingers of the vines with which in time the porch will 

 be covered. 



E^'en before the cat-proof (is there such a thing?) fence was begun, it seemed 

 to us that here, as everywhere, the cat would be the chief problem; for, in 

 spite of the presence of large bodies of workmen, the place seemed the 

 hunting ground for all the cats of the township. 



The devastation was so great, in spite of all the watching, that I formed the 

 habit of taking my little hound 'Lark' (for ten years the Society's cat-warden) 

 through the Sanctuary morning and night to clear the place. He has the 

 habit of trailing cats as if they were coons and, when he trees his quarry, will 

 sit at a reachable distance, should the cat try to jump, and bay until a 22- 

 caliber rifle comes to "do the rest." 



August was given to pond-making. After the survey was made, 500 square 

 yards of rich black muck were removed, to be used in grading and filling, and 

 the flow of water regulated by a small dam and spillway at the south end, 

 to insure a constant flow. It seemed at first as if much natural beauty 

 would be destroyed by the scars of necessary labor; but, I think, because 

 every worker was given a clear explanation of the meaning and uses of the place, 

 he took a pride in its accomplishment, and felt himself as an important part in 

 the making, so there was little or no damage and all the carting was accom- 

 plished over a six-foot-wide track, with no going cross-lots or cutting of corners. 

 By the first of October, it was hard to beUeve that the pond had been "made" 

 in any way — so natural did it seem, — and one of its early records is that of a 

 visit from a Black-bellied Plover. 



On October 16, Birdcraft Sanctuary was opened to the public, by 

 holding there the afternoon session of the Annual Meeting of the Connecticut 

 Audubon Society ; the lecture of the morning session having been given by Mr. 

 Baynes on the Meriden Sanctuary, by way of preparation. Thereafter it was 

 proposed to throw Birdcraft open to the public four times a week, on the after- 

 noons of Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. 



We had thought, aside from making it a haunt for birds, of the Sanc- 

 tuary ultimately as a place for the holding of bird classes, a haunt for bird 



