iiodoe] 



XATVRE-STUDY AND THE BOBWIIITE 



*;i 



The first thing to know is that the egp^s may be carried at 

 any stag^e of incubation in a hat worn on the head, and for 

 hours, if necessary. The writer has had ruffed grouse eggs 

 carried thus — walking and riding in trolleys and trains — from 

 nine in the morning until nearly seven in the evening, and a 

 few days later every one hatched. One clutch actually hatched 

 successfully in the hat of a man who was bringing them home. 

 After making a portable incubator, with hot water bottle, ther- 

 mometer and alcohol lamp, they were all discarded after try- 

 ing this easy method, and it has left nothing to be desired. 

 Most people wear hats — felt are the best for this purpose, but 

 straw hats have often served, with a handkerchief laid in the 

 crown to retain the heat — and any eggs may be kept warm 

 and transported by the hat method and thus saved, which 

 would otherwise go to waste. 



Flock of tame bob\\ hites as they live about the house. This flock would feed 

 about the garden and orchard and fly home to whistle. 



The law of all preserves is: " The beginning of game pro- 

 tection is extermination of vermin". Obeying this rule, when 

 the writer began raising the birds on his place, every rat was 

 killed, every skunk — seventeen were trapped on a place with- 

 in the residence section of Worcester — ^every crow that at- 

 tempted to hunt on the premises was, at least, shot at, and. 



