SECOND ANNUAL MEETING 49 



exactly Avhat should constitute a home. Some of the ])laees where we 

 may look for these homes tliat are established for the time are the 

 followiug': A hollow depression in the ground among the dreary Sand 

 Hills or barren i'ad Lands, in recking' bogs, miry swamps or on the 

 rolling i)rairics; a (lcc|) ci-cvicc between the rocks of perpendicular 

 cliffs in the northwestern ])art of the state. It may be on the other 

 hand a neat lit tie nest placed in the deep recesses of the shady wood 

 or in the deserted bui-row of a prairie dog or some other mammal; or 

 perhaps the home may be established within or ujion the decayed trunk 

 of a fallen tree, or it might be that even a worn out boot or an old 

 tomato can has furnished the reqinred location. Other birds may be 

 equally well satisfied with the top of a fence post or a secure sjiot in 

 an old brush pile, while the bare ground at the foot of some monarch 

 of the forest or even a nook about the barn or house, as well as a crovss- 

 beam beneath a bridg-e, will suit the tastes of certain species. Still 

 others of oiir birds find secure resting- places for their nests in the forks 

 of a branch or limb, or it may be at the tip of a slender twig" far out on 

 the end of a swinging branch. Again some of our birds prefer to con- 

 ceal their homes in a low busli or tuft of grass or a delicate bower of 

 ferns, as will likewise a shelving- rock provide the necessary home for 

 still others. Even the chimneys of our own abodes are made the 

 resting- places for homes of certain birds, as are also the sides of barns 

 and houses beneath the sheltered eaves, and a hundred other localities 

 which are regularly selected by these creatures when establishing 

 homes for themselves. 



Whether the home or nest is a scooped-out depression in, to us, an 

 iniinviting mud flat, a floating home anaong- the bullrushes or a neatly 

 woven basket hung to a swinging reed; whether it is an adobe struc- 

 ture plastered upon the face of an overhanging cliff or under the eaves 

 of a barn it is jiist the same to these creatures. 



The nesting of so many distinct kinds of birds within a ]3rescribed 

 region is very significant since it is during the growth of the young 

 birds that a larg-e amount of very highlj'- nutritious food is required. 

 P'rom the standpoint of the farmer and fruit-grower this fact is of the 

 utmost importance, since most young birds are fed almost entirely on 

 an insect diet during the time spent in the nest and for a short time 

 afterwards. The same can also be said of many of the birds that leave 

 the nest as soon as hatched. Therefore, during the growth of the 

 young birds the quantity of such food which is gathered b^y the parent 

 birds over the entire state must be relativel3^ enormous. Taking as a 

 basis for our estimations the figiires g-iven in my leaflet entitled A Plea 

 for the Protection of Our Birds we would have about 75,000,000 birds 

 or approximately 35,000,000 to 40,000,000 pairs that nest here. Should 

 each pair of this large number rear four young there would be required 

 a sufficient food supply for from 140,000,000 to 160,000,000 young birds. 

 If, as we suggested in that paper, a single bird requires on an average 

 4 



