200 



THE OOLOGIST 



numerable pests and assist in keeping 

 the trees clean. 



How To Increase the Birds. 



One of the first steps in an attempt 

 to increase bird life in Porto Rico, 

 say the investigators, is to provide 

 adequate legal protection both for the 

 birds and for their nests and to make 

 sure that the laws are properly en- 

 forced. As an aid in the enforce- 

 ment of protective laws no method is 

 more available, they say, than the edu- 

 cation of school children. If they are 

 taught to look on birds as friends and 

 not to disturb them, many a brood of 

 young that otherwise would be des- 

 troyed will reach maturity. Courses 

 in nature study have been found in- 

 teresting and profitable wherever un- 

 dertaken in elementary schools, and 

 will prove especially so in Porto Rico. 



That birds need shelter as well as 

 protection will not be questioned and 

 owners of plantations should look 

 carefully to providing this if it is not 

 already present. A long level stretch 

 of cane or tobacco, with not a tree or 

 other obstruction to break its con- 

 tinuity, offers little encouragement to 

 the bird in search of shelter and food. 

 A similar stretch of cultivated land, 

 with lines of symmetrical royal palms 

 or cocoanuts along the roadways and 

 dense clumps of bamboos adorning 

 the borders of streams, while not los- 

 ing any of its productiveness, will pro- 

 vide an attracting feeding ground for 

 birds which will more than repay the 

 owner in the great numbers of in- 

 jurious insects they consume. 



The martin, which nests in natural 

 cavities in trees or in crevices about 

 buildings in towns, might be attract- 

 ed to the country if nesting boxes 

 were provided. A hollowed-out cala- 

 bash on a pole would be as readily 

 accepted as a more pretentious man- 

 sion capable of housing several pairs, 

 but the shelter should in all cases be 



placed in an open location with a free 

 sweep on all sides and well elevated. 



Just Some Notes From Kansas. 



Taxidermists attention. Some weeks 

 ago I had occasion to mount a mother 

 bat and three young. Two of the 

 young were to be hung up asleep and 

 the third was to be in the act of ob- 

 taining nourishment from its mother. 

 So far so good. But, how is the 

 female to be hung up while its young 

 is feeding? Upside down in conven- 

 tional bat sleeping position, or hang- 

 ing by the thumbs on her wings? 



Whether this last is right or wrong, 

 I have hung her that way but I would 

 like to know for sure. 



I do not remember who it was who 

 told me or where I got the idea that 

 the common domestic pigeon never 

 alights in trees. It was proven be- 

 yond a doubt that this was not always 

 so, at least. The pigeons on a farm 

 in Johnson County spend a good deal 

 of their time in several oak trees near 

 the barn where the pigeons nested. 

 And the farmer told me that these 

 birds have done this for years. 



On the afternoon of June 15 (1919) 

 while I was painting a large barn, I 

 noticed several Bank Swallows flying 

 about the lot with an occasional Barn 

 Swallow in their midst. One of the 

 former alighted on the ground an in- 

 stant but was up again before it had 

 closed its wings, and when this was 

 repeated a couple of times, I became 

 curious and investigated. A small, 

 downy feather had caught in the mud 

 and was stuck pretty fast. 



I went back to work but watched 

 the bird until it finally pulled the 

 feather loose and flew riverward — a 

 good half mile away — to where I 

 knew a colony of these birds to be 

 nested. 



