Job: Propagation of Wild Birds 



511 



are very hard to breed, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the>' all become perfectly 

 tame." 



Most of the wading birds are hard to 

 breed, for various reasons, one of which 

 is the amount they eat. Mr. Job 

 describes his experience with a woodcock 

 which weighed 6 ounces and consumed 

 daily from 8 to 12 ounces of earth- 

 worms. Several boys spent their spare 

 time digging worms for the bird, but 

 after a month Mr. Job became disgusted 

 and liberated him. As he says, the 

 idea of feeding a whole flock of wood- 

 cocks staggers the imagination. 



The same objection prevents the 

 breeding of herons or egrets for their 

 plumes. "The enormous appetite of 

 herons for fish would make the thing 

 commercially unprofitable even if herons 

 w^ere induced to breed in captivity. 

 E. A. Mcllhenny, of Avery Island, La., 

 is experimenting now wdth herons in a 

 large flying cage, to see if they will breed 

 in captivity. He says that each bird 

 eats 114 pounds of fish a day, on the 

 average, and it has cost $12 per year to 

 feed each bird." 



Cranes are readily kept in confine- 

 ment, and it is becoming fashionable 

 to have them on country estates. They 

 are expensive, however, and do not 

 breed. 



BIRD REFUGES 



One aspect of breeding which deserves 

 note is the establishment of refuges and 

 protected colonies. "A splendid move- 

 ment, which has gathered momentum 

 in the past few years, is the establish- 

 ment of reservations on tracts of marsh 

 and swamp land, unsuited to human 

 occupancy, w^here wdldfowl can gather 

 and feed in w^inter and be safe from 

 molestation. Well known already are 

 the Ward-Mcllhenny tract in Louisiana 

 and that of Marsh Island, donated bv 



Mrs. Russell vSage. Latterly comes the 

 vast tract under the Rockefeller Founda- 

 tion adjoining the above in this great 

 marsh region. Together -these comprise 

 some 500 square miles, and extend for 

 75 miles along the coast. Already 

 ducks have begun to breed there in 

 considerable numbers, according to Mr. 

 Mcllhenny — the blue- winged teal, gad- 

 wall, black duck, and mallard, and 

 probably others in time will join them. 

 Similar measures should be taken, even 

 if on a smaller scale, in every state of 

 the Union. The wildfowl should also 

 be protected on their breeding grounds, 

 wherever these are located. Some breed 

 in the United States, but most of them 

 in the northwest provinces of Canada, 

 and it is ardently to be hoped that 

 through treaties with our neighbors, 

 both on the north and south, a compre- 

 hensive continental protection and con- 

 servation of this important and valuable 

 asset may be made possible." 



There are alread}^ Mr. Job notes, 

 nearly sixty protected areas set aside in 

 various parts of the country b}^ the 

 Federal Government, as water-bird 

 breeding colonies. The National Audu- 

 bon Society undertakes the work of 

 policing them, and also guards various 

 other rookeries which are not national 

 reservations. Thousands of individuals 

 are doing similar work on their own land. 



The concluding portion of Mr. Job's 

 book is given over to a description of 

 means by which the smaller wdld birds 

 can be attracted and induced to remain 

 around houses and on farms. To many 

 readers, this is likely to be the most 

 valuable and interesting part of the 

 book. In this, as Avell as in the preced- 

 ing sections, the author wastes little time 

 on generalities, but gives detailed and 

 specific directions for meeting each 

 individual problem that is likely to 

 arise. 



Eugenics in the Colleges 



Perhaps Kalamazoo College, in Michigan, can claim to have taught eugenics as 

 long as any college in the United States. Professor W. E. Praeger, of the Department 

 of Biology, whites that it has been a part of the curriculimi for nine years. There 

 has been a special course in genetics for the past three years; before that the subject 

 was part of the course entitled Theoretical Biology. Lectures in eugenics are 

 also given in the course on hygiene, required of all freshmen. 



