NATURAL HISTORY. 
I can readily explain why, with your mis- 
erable mud roads and such country schools, 
your population shows such an abnormal- 
ly strong drift towards the cities.” 

THE TEN TO ONE CLUB. 
Helen <A. Ball, of Worcester, 
makes the following interesting 
Miss 
Mass., 
report: 
There have been interesting develop- 
ments in the work of the Ten to One 
clubs. The children have entered into 
the work earnestly, and it is cheering 
to see the numbers of birdhouses that 
have been put up in different parts of 
the city. One sees them from the train 
in passing through Quinsigamond, and 
it is especially good to find them in 
thickly settled districts. Birds are not 
disturbed by noise. I have seen a robin 
singing on the top of a ragged elm while 
a frightful din went up from a foundry and 
snorting engines just below. Birds have 
shown themselves quick to respond to 
signs of friendliness on the part of man, 
and no more interesting experiment could 
be tried than that of attracting them to the 
narrow city dooryard. 
The work of the clubs consists, besides 
building houses, in putting out strings 
and various kinds of building material, 
keeping basins filled with water, for drink- 
ing and bathing, planting shrubs and plants 
that are especially attractive to birds, keep- 
ing careful notes of all nests discovered 
and protecting the same so far as pos- 
sible. In 2 schoolyards, shrubs and plants 
have been set out, with a special view to 
furnishing food for birds. Sunflowers are 
planted for the goldfinches and viburnum 
and enonymus and pokeberry, which at- 
tract many species, have been added. All 
sorts of building materials have been fur- 
nished. One boy, after having had his 
hair cut, placed the clippings on a bush 
and had the satisfaction of seeing the birds 
carry them away. Some children prepared 
pans of mud; placed them under trees 
frequented by robins, and saw the birds 
use the mud for their nest walls. 
One club discusses the subject of ven- 
tilation, deciding that a house with only 
one opening cannot have proper ventila- 
tion. Small holes have, therefore, been 
made on the opposite side, and, as a final 
triumph in the sanitary construction of 
_birdhouses, one house has been built with 
a movable roof, allowing the house to be 
properly cleaned at any time. Some houses 
show that the builders had access to very 
few tools, perhaps nothing more than a 
knife, using a stone for a hanimer. But 
the boys and girls took evident delight in 
uae such materialsand tools as they could 
nd. 
In a seventh grade club the girls have 
_ vines and squashes. 
‘served the purpose of keeping the crows 
467 
discussed the question whether they ought 
to wear feathers on their hats. Since the 
hats had already been bought and the 
girls felt that nothing more could be af- 
forded this season, the question was laid 
on the table, to be ‘taken up at some future 
time, when new hats were to be thought of. 
From another club comes the report of 
rescuing a nest with young birds that had 
fallen from a tree. The nest was replaced 
and apparently all went well with the 
family. A broken leg has been set with 
splints. 
The tragic side- has not been lacking, 
and heart-breaking stories have been told. 
One little girl had a birdhouse which she 
was sure had met the approval of a wren. 
A boy threw a stone and the house was 
knocked down beyond repair. Certain 
boys have stoned nests and killed some 
birds, hanging them on the trees, just to 
torment the boys who were trying to pro- 
tect nests. 
In spite of some discouragements, it 
cannot fail to mean something in the pro- 
tection of birds that between 2,000 and 
3,000 children are actively engaged in this 
work, and it need hardly be pointed out 
that, educationally, it already counts for a 
great deal. 

A SONGLESS NEW ENGLAND. 
An old New England farmer sat recent- 
ly at the door of the old homestead. 
“Seventy years ago,” said he, “when I was 
a boy and came down in the morning 
the air rang with the song of birds. On 
every tree there was a chorus of songsters. 
The woods were full of game. In those 
days we never heard of paris green, with 
which to drive the bugs from the potato 
A simple ‘scarecrow’ 
from the corn. For the rest, when the 
fields were once planted they grew undis- 
turbed. Now there are next to no birds. 
The air is tuneless. But for every vegeta- 
ble there is a bug. The bulk of the farm- 
er’s time is spent in fighting bugs. Paris 
green or sprays of deadly poisons are a 
daily necessity. The world seems dead to 
me. The birds are gone and I feel no 
more at home.” 
It is therefore gratifying to see that the 
legislatures of several states have been 
aroused to the necessity of doing some- 
thing before it is too late. In Rhode Isl- 
and the legislature has appointed a regular 
bird commission, consisting of eminent 
gentlemen, to take hold of the matter. The 
commissioners are authorized to employ 
deputies in each county, with power to ar- 
rest persons violating the bird laws of the 
state. Detectives will also aid in the work, 
and it is hoped that with the co-operation 
of citizens idle boys with shot guns on their 
shoulders, scouring the woods in mere 
