OF WILD ANIMALS i 77 



on the other, he scooped out between them clay for his factory 

 and made a small pond. With deliberate and praiseworthy 

 intention Mr. Miner planted there a little flock of pinioned wild 

 Canada geese, as a notice of sanctuary and an invitation to 

 wild flocks to come down for food, rest and good society. 



Very slowly at first the wild geese began to come; but finally 

 the word was passed along the line from Hudson Bay to Curri- 

 tuck Sound that Miner's roadhouse was a good place at which 

 to stop. Year by year the wild geese came, and saw, and were 

 conquered. So many thousands came that presently Mr. Miner 

 grew tired of spending out of his own pocket more than $700 

 a year for goose corn; and then the Canadian government most 

 commendably assumed the burden, and made Mr. Miner's 

 farm a national bird preserve* 



The annals of wild life protection literature contain many 

 records and illustrations of the remarkable quickness and thor- 

 oughness of sanctuary recognition by birds. On the other hand 

 I feel greatly annoyed by the failure of waterfowl to reason 

 equally well regarding the decoys of duck-shooters. They fail 

 to learn, either by experience or hearsay, that small flocks of 

 ducks sitting motionless near a shore are loaded, and liable ] 

 to go off. They fail to learn that it is most wise to settle 

 well outside such flocks of alleged ducks, and that it is a fatal 

 mistake to plump down on the top of a motionless bunch. 



Protective Association of Wasps and Caciques. The 



colonizing ^aciques, of South America, representing four 

 genera, are very solicitous of the safety of their colonies. In 

 numerous cases, these colonies are found in association with 

 wasps, one or more nests invariably being found near the nests 

 of the birds. It is natural to infer that this strange association 

 is due to the initiative of the birds. When monkeys attack the 

 birds, the birds need the stinging insects. 



•Mr. Miner is writing his wild-goose story into a book: and the story is worth 



it! 



