144 NATURE STUDY REVIEW |9 :5— May, 1913 



legislature rej^ealed the law which protected him and now he can 

 be killed without violating the law. There are eight birds in 

 Illinois not protected by law. They are: The blue jay, crow, 

 sharp-shinned hawk, cooper's hawk, great horned owl, sap sucker, 

 crow-black bird and the English sparrow. If you kill any of the 

 other birds you will be prosecuted, and you ought to be, because 

 they are our good friends. 



The best bird we have in Illinois is the meadow lark. He has 

 a good many of the same habits as the bobwhite. He has a 

 beautiful yellow shirt front, with a black necktie. *He is better 

 because he is more numerous than the bobwhite. He is the good 

 genius of the Illinois farmers. 



I like these "hang birds" or orioles. The Baltimore oriole 

 and the orchard oriole are excellent to destroy green caterpillars, 

 and they are very fine singers. I enjoy their sweet songs even 

 more when I recall that they make their music out of destructive 

 caterpillars. I think that any creature which can turn harmful 

 caterpillars into sweet songs is a remarkable being well deserving 

 protection. 



Most girls and boys think there are about one or two kinds 

 of sparrows, but there are a great many good sparrows — includ- 

 ing the song sparrow, field sparrow, chipping-sparrow, white 

 throated sparrow, tree sparrow, etc. And they ought to be pro- 

 tected. Several years ago we had a bounty on English sparrows. 

 The legislature repealed that law because men and boys, and the 

 clerks who paid the bounty, didn't know the difference between 

 good and bad sparrows. They therefore paid our tax monev for 

 killing our friends as well as our enemies. 



I can't take time to speak of a large number of other good 

 birds. But I want to tell you about just one more before I close. 

 Get the Jennie wrens to nest at your home. They are fine singers 

 and very pretty and interesting to watch. And then too they de- 

 stroy a great many insects. You ought to put up some nests. 

 Now this is the way to make a nest. First be sure to make a 

 very small opening. A great many people make it too large and 

 then the larger birds can get in, too. Take an old tin can. lay a 

 quarter of a dollar on the bottom, and then make a pencil mark 

 around the quarter. Take a knife and cut the piece out just the 

 size of the quarter, and then just before you get the piece cut off, 

 bend it down for the litle wren to alight upon when going into the 

 nest. Then drive nails into the other end of the can in such way 

 as to nail it against a wall or building or tree. Many of you will 

 get a pair of Jennie wrens this season while many more will get 



