57 



cover with cotton and so on till full, 

 or nearly so, then place enough cot- 

 ton on top to securely hold all in 

 place when the cover is on . 



Shells should be separately wrap- 

 ped in paper, and the delicate ones 

 should be filled with a wad of cotton 

 and also wrapped in] cotton and 

 packed in some kind of boxes as 

 eggs. 



Minerals should be wrapped in 

 paper, each specimen separately. 

 The fragile crystals or specimens 

 should be still further by cotton and 

 placed in small boxes — not packed 

 in with the heavier specimens; the 

 same of fossils. Never pack min- 

 erals in sawdust, they may travel 

 safely, but do not give the receiver 

 nearly as good an impression, on 

 opening the box as though they 

 were packed in paper. In order to 

 avail yourself of the merchandise 

 postage rate (let. per oz.) the jiack- 

 age must contain no written matter 

 except that it is allowable to.number 

 each specimen to correspond with 

 list sent in letter, or to place a simple 

 label (name, locality, date, etc,) with 

 each. Anything in the shape of 

 correspondence subjects the package 

 to letter postage, (which the re- 

 ceiver must pay) and the sender to 

 a fine. Besides the address of the 

 party to whom you are sending, 

 write your own address in one 

 corner preceeded by the word 

 "from," then in case package is not 

 delivered you will receive it back 

 from Dead Letter Office. 



Some of your readers may say "I 

 knew all that before." I do not doubt 

 but that many of them do, but I 

 Jctww from my own experience 

 that many of them do not, and for 

 such I have written. 



Do not nail covers to boxes, they 

 must be left so that the contents 

 can be examined if deemed advisable 

 at the first office. If sealed or fasten- 

 ed letter j)ostage is charged. 



b. ii. e. 



Bird Storie s . 



One day last spring a resident of 

 the North End had his attention 

 called to an oriole that was in some 

 serious trouble. Examination show- 

 ed that it was fastened to a limb by 

 one of its nest strings. A lad dis- 

 engaged it, and it flew away. Later 

 in the day the boy saw a bird flutter- 

 ing in the grass, and after catching 

 it, it proved to be the same bird, a 

 remnant of the string being fastened 

 about its leg in such a way as to dis- 

 able it. It was freed again, and re- 

 turned to its nesting place. Nothing 

 more was thought of the matter un- 

 til one day last week. The family 

 had noticed the constant chirping 

 of a young bird for several clays, 

 and it became so annoying that a 

 search was made and one of the 

 young orioles was found hanging 

 from the nest on the same limb 

 where the old one was caught. It 

 had a hair twisted around one leg, 

 and so bound that it had cut into the 

 leg a it grew and disabled it. 

 Around the body was a piece of 

 string which was removed with 

 considei'able difficulty. Apparentlv 

 the old bird is particularly clumsy. 

 She almost killed herself, and 

 then almost killed one of her young 

 by the same awkward use of materi- 

 als from the nest, or in the latter 

 case, from making the nest in such 

 a way that it served as a trap for 

 the young bird hatched in it. 



At the same house, robins have 

 nested under the stoop of the front 

 door, and also under the roof of the 

 piazza and at the side of the house, 

 arid come and go undisturbed by 

 any such trifle as the presence of 

 the owners of the place. 



An amusing incident happened in 

 connection with these birds. A 

 small cherry-tree about thirty feet 

 from the nest of one pair was loaded 

 with fruit and it was decided to 

 make an effort to save fruit from 

 their depredations. So the tree was 



