Notes From Field and Study 



211 



there. No movement or noise that I could 

 make seemed to disturb them, and I feel sure 

 I could have caught many of those that 

 rested on the shingles could I have reached 

 them. I could see no insects nor attraction 

 of any sort, nor any unusual condition 

 except perhaps the strong yellow light from 

 the sun that illuminated the brown shingles. 

 I had to leave while the birds were still 

 at it, and darkness had fallen before I 

 returned. There was now no trace of the 

 birds; none were roosting either on the 

 porch or on the shingles. Swifts were com- 

 mon around the house and a few bred in 

 the chimneys, but conduct such as this I 

 never witnessed before or since. — Wm. E. 

 Praeger, Chicago. 



The Song of the Carolina Wren 



Mr. Keyser's experience with the Caro- 

 lina Wren that sang the song of a Song- 

 sparrow interested me much, because I 

 twice heard a Carolina Wren imitate the 

 Catbird's warning Zeay, Zeay! so perfectly 

 that I fully expected to see the Catbird and 

 was amazed to see the Wren instead. 

 A young one repeated the cry. It was be- 

 cause of a cat — a danger ahead. I heard 

 the same warning a second time — perhaps 

 from the same Wren! — Ella Mosby, 

 Louise Home, Washington, D. C. 



Opposed to Compulsory Instruction 

 on Birds 



5105 Morgan St., St. Louis. Mo.. March 15, 1905. 

 Mr. F. M. CHAPMAN, Editor Bird-Lore. 



Dear Sir: I send you enclosed clipping 

 from the 'St. Louis Republic,' which I 

 think is too good to pass by unnoticed. 

 Such wise words of one of our Missouri 

 senators may deserve publication in Bird- 

 Lore, as they show with what stuff the 

 Audubon Society has to contend. 



Yours truly, O. Widmann. 

 P. S. — I have just mailed Senator Fields 

 Educational Leaflet No. i, and he will get 

 one leaflet every day now for the next eleven 

 or twelve days. 



By a Staff Correspondent. 



Jefferson City, Mo., March 14. — Walms- 

 ley's bill compelling teachers to devote one 

 hour a month to teaching the habits of birds 

 and insects caused an hour's discussion in 

 the Senate this afternoon. Senator Fields 

 grew almost dramatic in his denunciation 



of the bill, and, on a roll call, the bill was 

 killed, 16 to 16. 



' ' Do you think an educated school teacher 

 can tell as much as a country boy about 

 birds?" asked Fields. " Nobody outside of 

 the Supreme Court knows what the fish and 

 game laws are for. They have the last 

 guess. Then you have here a bill making a 

 poor girl school teacher try to tell something 

 she or no one else knows anything about. 

 Why, you would make the poor children 

 listen to the reading of Government reports! 

 Can you, Senators, be serious in this ?" 



The vote was then taken. 



Pine Warblers Eat Suet 



I was very much interested, last spring, 

 in watching a pair of Pine Warblers eat 

 suet which was put out for the Wood- 

 peckers and Nuthatches. I have had it on 

 the trees several years but never saw the 

 Warblers eat it before. — Elizabeth A. S. 

 Pennell, Brunsivick, Me. 



A Peculiar Snare 



While observing birds on State College 

 campus this morning at 7:30 o'clock, a 

 small bird fluttered down from the branches 

 above to the grass about three yards away. 

 Locating and easily identifying it as a 

 Black-and-white Warbler, Mniotilta 'varia, 

 I cautiously approached to within two feet 

 of it and stooped to pick it up, when it 

 fluttered away some two yards further. It 

 was then easily captured and found to be in 

 fine plumage and good health. Examining 

 for the cause of its disabled condition, I 

 found one of its own feathers, one and 

 one - fourth inches long, attached from 

 the primaries of one wing to the primaries 

 of the other, binding the tips of the wings 

 together. In this condition I exhibited it 

 to eight or ten State College students and 

 released it in their presence. It was unable 

 to fly away, though it made strenuous 

 efforts. It was captured a second time and 

 the feather removed, the removal showing 

 that it was firmly attached at either end. 

 On being again released, it flew away. The 

 feather is retained as a souvenir. — R. H. 

 Dean, Lexington, Ky. 



