A Seven-Year-Old Ornithologist 



Endell D. Everdell 

 Miami Conservancy, Englewood, Ohio 



Near where the Englewood Dam is being built under the super- 

 vision of the Miami Conservancy District of Dayton, Ohio, is ten 

 acres of wooded land, a natural habitat for birds. Located in this 

 spot is a cottage school for the children whose fathers are building 

 this immense structure. In this school is an embryo ornithologist, 

 a little boy not quite seven. He has found and identified the 

 following fifty-two birds in these woods. His home is just a few 

 rods from the school. His father, the Division Engineer, drew 

 each night for several months, a bird for his son, explaining the size, 

 coloring and beak. During the day, little Richard McCurdy wotdd 

 watch the birds until he found the right one. Sometimes he used 

 his father's glasses. He also had a copy of Burbank's Bird Book 

 and Reed's Bird Guide at school to aid him. On the cover you 

 see him as we caught him one day with his father's glasses. 



List of birds Dick has seen in this neighborhood: 



House Wren English Sparrow 



Slate-colored Junco Robin 

 Phoebe Kingbird 



Red winged Bl'kbird Flicker 

 Downy Woodpecker Baltimore Oriole 



Tree Swallow 



Sandpiper 



Yellow Warbler 



Crow 



Chewink 



Mourning Dove 



Nuthatch 

 Yellow Billed Cuckoo Cowbird 

 Lark Sparrow Wh. -crowned Spar 



Indigo Bunting Blue Grosbeak 



Chest, sided Warbler Bl'kbumian WarblerMaryland Yel. Throat 

 Yel. Breasted Chat Mocking Bird Tufted Titmouse 



Turkey Buzzard Ruby throated Hummingbird 



Meadow Lark 



Kingfisher 



Redstart 



Catbird 



Brown Thrasher 



Oven Bird 



Chickadee 



Song Sparrow 



Bluebird 



Bob White 



Red headed Woodpecker 



Blue Jay 



Bam Swallow 



Nighthawk 



Cardinal 



Scarlet Tanager 



Wood Thrush 



Goldfinch 



Screetch Owl 



Purple Crackle 



White -throated Sparrow 



Black and wh. Warbler 



337 



