THE OOLOQI8T 



15 



the collection was huntd down, killed 

 and stuffed by Mr. Werner himself. 

 The collection is valued at $50,000, and 

 at one time Atlantic City Public 

 Schools made a movement to buy the 

 collection at this price for use in ed- 

 ucational purposes. 



Mr. Werner is survived by a widow 

 and one son, William B. Werner, who 

 succeeds his late father in the man- 

 agement of the "Wonderland" exhibit. 

 Xo better evidence of the high regard 

 in which Mr. Werner was held could 

 be shown than upon the occasion of 

 his funeral when the large, concourse 

 of mourners coupled with the many 

 beautiful floral offerings, was a strik- 

 ing testimonial to the memory of this 

 estimable man. 



Bird Nesting Time. 

 By R. P. Sharpies. 

 Early in June is when all the small 

 birds do their nesting. And while it 

 is the most important function of their 

 lives it really takes up very little time 

 with many of them. Most interesting 

 of the smaller birds are the warblers, 

 those bright colored little fellows that 

 live in the woods and wild thickets 

 Most of them come here on the jour- 

 ney from the south between the first 

 and fifteenth of May. By the first of 

 June they have selected their mates, 

 made the nests and begun to lay eggs. 

 In ten days the eggs are hatched, and 

 in another ten days the young birds 

 are out of the nests and learning to 

 fly. By the first of July the young- 

 sters can shift for themselves and are 

 left by the parents to go it alone. No 

 second nest is made exce])t where the 

 first one meets with accident. This 

 is the time of year when bird study 

 is the most difficult. The young have 

 feathers entirely different in color 

 from the parents, and it is almost im- 

 ))ossible to identify many of them. 



Of course all the birds do not nest 

 in June, neither do all of them raise 

 but one brood per year. 



At the head of the list of early 

 nesting birds are the bald eagles, and 

 there are two eyries used every year 

 not far from West Chester. These 

 are very apt to have eggs in them by 

 the middle of February. About the 

 sanie time the great horned owls lay 

 their eggs, though these birds are al- 

 most extinct in lower Chester coun- 

 ty. I have not found a nest of this 

 species for about five years. The first 

 of April sees the red-tailed hawk, the 

 sparrow hawk and the barn owl, three 

 very useful birds, making their nests, 

 and they are closely followed by the 

 herons, the crow blackbirds, the spar- 

 rows and crows. About the first of 

 June the great mass of our migratory 

 birds are nest building, though there 

 are a few laggards to bring up the 

 rear. Last on the list are the vireos. 

 the cuckoos and the little yellow gold- 

 finches which might be said to bring 

 up the rear of the procession in July. 



The present season has been an un- 

 usually favorable one for the birds 

 until within a week or two. Wet 

 weather kills the young, and recent 

 rains have undoubtedly taken their 

 toll of millions of nestlings. 



We have about 770 species of birds 

 in the United States, and probably 

 500 additional sub-species. Of course, 

 not one-half of them ever come to 

 Chester county. 



Our birds are increasing rapidly in 

 numbers, and I do not think there is 

 danger of any species being blotted 

 out. When they become scarce there 

 is always some public-spirited citizen 

 appears to i)rotect them. He buys a 

 tract of land that the birds frequent 

 and protects them for a few years, 

 and under such treatment they very 

 rapidly increase. For some years 

 past we have had doleful accounts in 



