BIRDS l8l 



makes its nest in a hollow in a tree. The female sits on the eggs, 

 and the male walls up the opening to the nest, nearly completely. 

 He leaves only a small opening thru which he feeds her. The 

 female and the eggs are thus protected from enemies during the 

 nesting time. There is much difference in the time of nesting of 

 different birds. Most of the hawks and owls lay eggs very early 

 in the year, in January or February even, while many of the 

 song birds do not nest until late in the spring or until summer. 

 The children should find out as much as possible about the nest- 

 ing of some of the common and readily observed birds. 



The songs of birds offer an interesting field of observation. 

 What birds have songs? What one calls or cries? Some birds 

 which have only sharp cries during most of the year have varied 

 and elaborate songs during the mating season. What are the 

 cries and songs for? Note cries to warn mates or young of the 

 approach of enemies, and cries to call the young. 



The bird fauna of any locality is made up of (a) all year 

 residents, or kinds of birds which live there permanently, (b) 

 summer residents, or birds which come in the spring, mate and 

 breed there and leave in the autumn, (c) winter residents or birds 

 which come in the fall and stay thru the winter, going elsewhere 

 in the spring to breed, (d) migrants, or birds which pass thru in 

 the spring and again in the autumn making but a short stay 

 at either of these seasnos, and finally (e) stragglers or birds which 

 normally always live elsewhere but occasionally straggle into the 

 region. Of the many kinds of birds which may be observed to 

 occur in any locality usually about a fifth are really all-year 

 residents in the region. The summer residents (as opposed to 

 all-year residents) will include enough more to bring the total of 

 birds which breed in a certain region to about half the total number 

 of birds which may occur in the region. The other half of the total 

 number is composed principally of migrants. 



Older children can be got to keep a little note-book, or the 



