Vermont Botanical and Bird Club 31 



has passed. Meetings were held every two weeks during the summer, 

 and are held every month during the winter. Botanical specimens were 

 brought into the meetings and studied. Some were pressed and 

 mounted so that the club has the beginning of an herbarium. I am in- 

 formed that from February 21 to September 12, 726 specimens were 

 brought in for study. These included mosses, mushrooms, flowers, and 

 ferns. An excellent study of native trees was conducted and I saw in 

 the spring a very attractive exhibit of the budding twigs, the bark, and 

 the finished wood of the trees. 



A BIRD CALENDAR. 



Alice W. Wilcox. 



The Fairbanks museum at St. Johnsbury has kept an exact record 

 of the bird-population of the community in 1914, in the form of a bird 

 calendar. 



A duplicate set of mounted birds has been used for this purpose. 

 A number of reliable observers have been asked to report the first ap- 

 pearances of the birds in their vicinity with the exact date for each. 

 Our taxidermist, W. E. Balch of Lunenburg, devised a special bracket 

 of wire to fasten to the wall to hold the bird and its label. Each bird 

 on its arrival in the spring was put on its bracket in the order of its 

 appearance; the series bearing the relation of words on the printed 

 page. The labels were typewritten library cards, giving scientific and 

 popular names, size, general description, field marks, main habits, and 

 the date of its first appearance. 



As the spring migrants went north to nest, the dates of departure 

 were carefully recorded on the cards below the dates of arrival, and the 

 specimen bird removed from the bracket. At the end of the migration, 

 therefore, only summer residents remained on the calendar. 



With the coming of the fall migrants, each one was restored to its 

 place in the calendar and the date of second arrival placed on the card. 

 Upon the departure of each migrant southward, the bird was again re- 

 moved and the date of last appearance recorded on the card. At the 

 end of the fall migration period, the permanent residents were placed 

 on the calendar. As the winter visitants or irregular visitants arrived, 

 they were added with suitable cards. 



The cards assembled at the end of the year give the exact record 

 of the bird life of the community during the year. 



