THE EXTENSION 17 
are laid in a nest? What are the actions of the male and 
female bird during the time the eggs are being incubated? 
When do the eggs hatch? When do the young birds begin 
to leave the nest and fly? Do the parent birds care for 
them during this time? If so, in what ways? What do 
they feed to the young birds? How do the young birds 
take the food? Is the color of the young -birds the same 
as that of the old ones? Locate nests and then wait until 
the young birds are hatched and gone to examine the nest 
in detail. 
(e) Habitat—Does the bird live on the uplands, on 
the water or along the border of streams, sloughs or lakes? 
Does it frequent grain fields, woods or meadows? 
(f) Residenece.—Does it stay in your neighborhood 
all the year? If not, at what time do you see the first of 
its kind in the spring? When do they become common? 
Do they remain only a few days or remain all summer? Do 
they gather in flocks in the fali before migrating south- 
ward? At what time do they leave for the south? Why 
do they leave? What birds stay all winter? What birds 
are seen only during winter? Where do they spend the 
rest of the year? During what part of the winter do they 
remain here? 
(z) Food Habits——What do the birds eat and how do 
they get it? What do they feed the young birds? Do they 
eat weed seeds, grain, insects or rodents such as mice and 
gophers? Do they eat standing grain, grain in shock or 
scattered waste grain? Be sure to distinguish whether 
they are really eating grain or picking off insects. Do they 
eat any insects or other things which are a pest to your 
erops, garden or trees? Do they get their food by seratch- 
ing? Do they seratch with one foot at a time or both at 
once? Do they capture food while in flight? In what sort 
of places do they hunt for food? 
(h) How ean you increase the number of the useful 
birds about the home, garden, orchard, or farm? Try fix- 
ing a place where they ean drink and bathe undisturbed, 
placing food where they can get it, especially when natural 
food is scarce on account of the season or storms, making 
simple bird houses out of boxes, hollow sticks, ete., placing 
them where prowling cats cannot disturb, and note the re- 
sults. A few of their favorite wild fruit trees planted about 
the home will attract them and at the same time, protect 
the cultivated fruits. Work out other methods of encourag- 
ing birds about the home. 
