142 Bird -Lore 



10. How many days after the eggs hatched before the young left the 

 nest ? 



11. Did the young know how to fly at once upon leaving the box, and 

 do you think the old ones taught them to fly ? 



12. When the birds have left the nest not to return again, take out the 

 nesting material and see of what it is composed. How many feathers, twigs, 

 strings, pieces of grass or other articles did if contain ? 



PRIZES FOR THE BEST REPORTS 



Bird -Lore ofifers three prizes for the best studies of bird tenants on the 

 lines laid down above. The prize will be a bird book or books to the value 

 of $2.50 for the first prize, $2 for the second prize, and $1.50 for the third 

 prize. 



A Boy's Invention 



By ALBERT B. CANFIELD (aged 12 years), Curran, 111. 



One day I felt like hammering nails, and I wondered what to make. I 

 thought about a bird-food shelf. I got a board one foot wide and two feet 

 long. I tacked a strip around the four sides to keep the food from blowing 

 ofi; then I bored four holes, two at either end, and ran wire through to hang 

 it up by. If it is hung with wire, the English Sparrows will not alight on 

 the shelf; I mean they will not get on anything that swings. 



We have a bird-pole twenty-five feet high; it has a fine Martin house 

 on top, and about four feet down is a Bluebird house. I nailed a board on 

 the bird-pole about twelve feet from the ground and put walnuts on it; 

 and we have had, in one day, forty Juncos, ten Chickadees, eight Tufted 

 Titmice, three Hairy Woodpeckers, two Downy Woodpeckers, seven Blue 

 Jays and one Cardinal. The pole is ten feet from our kitchen window, so 

 we watched them all day, as we were home from school. I wish every farm 

 had a bird-food shelf. If they loved birds as well as I do, they would; it is 

 so interesting to watch them eat, and a comfort to know the English Spar- 

 rows will not get on a shelf that swings. 



