RETURNING HOME. 



GUY STEALEY. 



I HAVE often wondered whether 

 birds, like persons, do not grow to 

 love some one locality better than 

 all others, and if they do not re- 

 turn there year after year to make it 

 their home. My belief is that they do. 

 I have observed many cases that tend 

 to confirm my views, and give a couple 

 of them below. 



One spring, six years ago, while my 

 grandmother and I were out milking in 

 the corral one evening, a pair of kill- 

 deer flew over our heads and, after cir- 

 cling around a few times, settled near 

 us. We noticed then that the male 

 had only one leg, the other being 

 broken off near the knee. They skipped 

 around in the way they have, stopping 

 now and then to pick up a worm. All 

 that summer they came nearly every 

 night to catch the bugs and worms, 

 which they often carried to the little 

 fledglings in their nest by the lake. 



Well, time passed on. Autumn came 

 and went, and with it the killdeer and 

 their young. The long winter wore 

 away; then, on a bright spring morn- 

 ing, in precisely the same manner as 

 before, our two friends, the killdeer, 

 darted down in the corral again and 

 went to feeding. The old fellow 

 hopped about on his one leg as of 

 yore, and seemed glad to see us again. 



The next year it was the same way. 



They arrived at about the same time as 

 on the two previous seasons, and 

 hatched out their young as usual, down 

 by the lake. They were quite tame by 

 this time, and we began to regard them 

 as pets. 



The next spring, however, they failed 

 to come, and you may be sure that we 

 missed their clear, cheerful cries. We 

 could not, of course, tell the cause of 

 their non-appearance. One or both of 

 them may have been killed or they may 

 have died, as birds are liable to the 

 same fate as we are; but one thing is 

 certain, this pair came back here for 

 three seasons. 



Another summer, while passing near 

 the river, a humming bird flew out of 

 the bushes almost under my feet, and 

 from its actions I felt certain it had a 

 nest there. And sure enough, on stoop- 

 ing down and parting the leaves I 

 found her nest, built on a single rose 

 stem, projecting over the water. Two 

 tiny birds reposed on their soft bed. 

 Below this nest, on the same stem, and 

 but a few inches apart, were two old 

 ones. They were somewhat ragged, as 

 was natural, from the war of the ele- 

 ments that had raged during one and 

 two years. So, these humming birds 

 must have made this their home for 

 several summers. 



THE PLANT PRODUCTS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



THE Department of Agriculture 

 has recently issued a report on 

 the plant products of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands, which is particu- 

 larly interesting at the present time. 

 The report deals with the agricultural 

 resources of the islands as they now 

 exist, and shows that although an agri- 

 cultural country, the islands do not pro- 

 duce enough food for the consumption 

 of the inhabitants. In order to supply 

 the deficiency, it is the custom to draw 

 upon rice-producing countries, such as 



Cochin China. About one-ninth of the 

 area of the Philippine Islands, or 

 8,000,000 acres, is devoted to agricul- 

 ture. When the natural fertility of the 

 soil is considered and the large amount 

 of rich land not yet cultivated, it can 

 be assumed that with better agricul- 

 tural methods the products of the is- 

 lands could be increased tenfold. Rice 

 forms one of the most important food 

 products of the islands; more than a 

 hundred varieties are grown; the an- 

 nual production is about 36,000,000 



