ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 33 



Downy Woodpecker started a new excavation at once, six or eight inches 

 below the other. Just as he had about completed it. March arrived with its 

 abundance of Bluebirds. A pair of the latter tried to take possession of 

 the upper hole while the downies down below took violent exception to this 

 intrusion of the flats above. The suggestion, however, was a good one and 

 yearly I have since brought in several good soft willow logs about the size 

 of my arm and attach these to a tree in my yard or to the trees in the 

 park across the way. The Woodpeckers do their share and I often have 

 them as residents, however, if by accident the ^'oodpeckers are scared 

 away, I know that I'm nearly sure of a pair of Titmice, Chickadees, or 

 Bluebirds. 



Many may object to the above program as too much work. Secure a nest 

 of Greatcrested Flycatchers, a Titmouse or Chickadee once and you will 

 never begrudge the several hours spent on making the right kind of a house. 



T. E. MUSSELMAN. 



A Unique Exhibit 



The Chicago Chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation Society of 

 America is to be congratulated upon a unique exhibit held during the month 

 of January at the Art Institute in Chicago. Although the exhibit was 

 arranged to further the particular interests for which that Society stands, 

 its scope was so broad that it might well have been called a natural history 

 exhibit. Dried specimens of grasses, reeds, seed pods, insect galls, ferns, 

 mosses and lichens, were displayed in close proximity to photographs of 

 birds and spiderwebs, and there were displays of photographs of flowers, 

 blueprints of plant life, collections of insects, shelf mushrooms, etc. No 

 emphasis was laid upon things purely scientific and the members of the 

 exhibit committee and their friends simply brought their "treasures" to 

 the exhibit. This accounts for the wide diversity of subjects and explains 

 the great interest the exhibit aroused. A very satisfactory result was the 

 keen and intelligent interest shown by school children. One teacher of 

 biology made fifteen consecutive visits, each time bringing a group of 

 children. Another interesting result was the bringing to light of many 

 unsuspected hobbies among business men and women and the occasional 

 revelation of great interest in, or unusual scientific knowledge of, some 

 plant or flower. During the time the exhibit was in place over 30,000 

 admissions to the Art Institute were recorded and of these only a small 

 proportion failed to visit the gallery where the exhibit was displayed. 

 Someone from Peoria "happened in" and later on the Chamber of Com- 

 merce of that city requested that the whole exhibit be packed and shipped 

 there at its expense for a two weeks public display. The success of the 

 exhibit in Chicago has been so great and its educational value so important 

 that the management of the Art Institute have offered double space for 

 next year's exhibit. Mrs. Charles Hutchinson is President of the Society 

 and Mrs. C. S. Eaton of 5744 Kimbark Ave.. Chicago, is Secretarv. 



O. M. S. 



