6 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



congregation of Christ Church, 193 Salem Street; at the North End 

 Branch of the Public Library, North Bennett Street; the Society of Salem, 

 122 Salem Street; the Society of the Sons of Liberty in Roxbury and the 

 Italian Independent Club in East Boston. Mr. Sartorio is a genial and 

 forceful speaker and is very popular with his countrymen. At the Salem 

 Street lecture, for instance, there was an attendance of about three hun- 

 dred. The three travelling lectures have been constantly lent to speakers in 

 various parts of the State, and with it all the value of birds and the need 

 of their protection has been constantly kept before the public. 



Charles M. Ams, "the man who bought a town" is doing a good many 

 different things with the northern Conneticut town which he bought. One 

 of these is to make the place a bird sanctuary where no shooting is to be 

 allowed and in the midst of which the National Association's Department 

 of Applied Ornithology is carrying on unique experiments in the rearing 

 of some species of wild ducks not hitherto bred in captivity. The breeding 

 in captivity of wood ducks and mallards is common, but here on a marsh- 

 bordered pond admirably adapted to the purpose are redheads, canvas- 

 backs, pintails, and scaup, living summer and winter and with all the 

 conveniences of any wild duck's life except the power to travel extensively. 

 That is denied them because their wings are clipped, but they have the 

 freedom of the pond, the swamp and some acres of good grass land 

 where they may roam unrestrained. Preparations are well under way 

 for adding to this interesting colony all the other species of wild ducks, 

 and before long the little pond will be a complete museum of the wild- 

 duck life of the continent. A special form of sheltering house has been 

 built for these birds well out in the pond. Here, when the winter's cold 

 bit deep and the ice was two or three feet thick on the pond, they found 

 safe refuge, in open water, able to dive and swim as usual, the surface 

 within the shelter never freezing. Thus the problem of sheltering these 

 still wild birds through the winter was definitely solved. Canvasbacks 

 have bred in captivity and it is believed that all the wild species will in 

 this quite natural environment breed as the canvasbacks, mallards and wood 

 ducks already do. The pond is just below the outlet of a big lake of spring 

 water and the diving ducks feast royally whenever there is a special flow of 

 water from above on the schools of minnows that come down with it. All 

 the different species of wild-duck food are being planted about the pond and 

 the place will thus be a museum, not only of duck life but of the plant life 

 on which the birds are dependent. Mr. Job, who is in charge of the 

 whole sanctuary, is a specialist in the breeding of wild ducks, and there 

 is no doubt of the ultimate success of the experimental work under his man- 

 agement. A commodious dwelling-house has been turned over to Mr. Job 

 for the uses of the Audubon Society. There will be a museum of speci- 

 mens, a collection of Audubon literature, and a genuine welcome to all 



