NATURAL HISTORY. 



119 



who has had experience in raising pheas- 

 ants, and he replied as follows : 



The story about golden pheasants going 

 without food and drink for 22 to 24 days 

 may be true, but I doubt it. I showed the 

 letter to our gamekeeper, and while he is 

 not strong on golden or Amherst pheas- 

 ants, he doubts if they can go so long with- 

 out food. We raise English birds, and ir- 

 respective of the hand raised ones hatched 

 out and attended to by domestic hens, the 

 old cluckers are fed at regular intervals 

 daily and the young pheasants every 2 

 hours. The wild pheasants, raising their 

 own young or sitting on their own eggs, 

 go off the nest to feed early in the morning 

 and again in the evening. I have a few 

 goldens, and I noticed that one little hen 

 in a pen sat extremely close and tight. She 

 had a runway, and while I placed food in 

 her coop she never left it. However, the 

 rats may have eaten the food. 



I take the liberty of forwarding the De- 

 troit letter to Mr. D. B. Provoost, of Eliza- 

 beth, N. J. He showed me a nice lot of 

 young goldens he had recently raised in his 

 back yard, and may be able to throw some 

 light on the subject. 



S. B. Jameson, Allamuchy, N. J. 



Mr. Provoost writes : 



It is a matter I have never had brought to 

 my attention before, but one of my golden 

 hens, while sitting on her own eggs, came off 

 her nest at least twice last year, and I 

 counted her eggs on 2 occasions. This year 

 the same hen nested in her coop where I 

 could not see her without going in the coop. 

 She had food and water in the coop. I do 

 not recall seeing her out of her coop while 

 nesting this year. Therefore mv observa- 

 tions this year are of no value to you. 



D. B. Provoost, Elizabeth, N. J. 



Following my former articles in Recrea- 

 tion' about purple martins, I received sev- 

 eral letters as to how to make the bird 

 houses, etc., and am glad so many of your 

 readers were interested. 



The martins were unusually numerous 

 this year. I had 18 pairs that raised broods 

 of young birds. An average of 4 to each 

 pair would make 72 young martins in my 

 colony. Three pairs in my dwelling had 13 

 young, there being 5 in one nest and 4 each 

 in the others. 



Ten years ago no one in this vicinity had 

 any purple martins, although they were in 

 other portions of the city. A friend of 

 mine living on the West Side, who had 

 some of the birds, said I lived too near the 

 lake, which is 9 blocks away. About 8 

 years ago I was fortunate in having a 

 pair settle in my bird house, and with 



new ones coming from other localities, and 

 from the young, the number has increased 

 wonderfully. Within a mile of my place, 

 people who never 'knew the bird have be- 

 gun to like them and put up houses, so that 

 at least 150 pairs have nested this year. 



A few weeks ago the telegraph wires for 

 3 to 4 blocks were covered with purple mar- 

 tins, the most of the birds being this year's 

 crop of young. There must have been 

 1,000 to 2,000. 



I had this season one pair of bluebirds, 

 one pair of tree swallows, and one pair of 

 house wrens. The bluebirds raised 2 broods. 

 I regret to say that some fiend killed the 

 male tree swallow, as I missed him after 

 the birds were breeding. The female made 

 a valiant effort to hatch the eggs and raise 

 the young, but one time during her absence 

 for food a sparrow got in and threw the 

 eggs out. 



A male purple martin I also missed just 

 about the time the female started laying. 

 She managed to hatch the eggs, and suc- 

 cessfully rear 2 or 3 young, all by herself. 

 As I kept close watch of the bird during 

 the time, there is no doubt of this being 

 correct. 



The first purple martin of the season ar- 

 rived April 6. 



Last evening I was sitting on the porch 

 in front of my house, when a neighbor 

 called my attention to a flock of birds about 

 a block or a block and a half high, and 

 wanted to know what ihey were. I at first 

 took them for nighthawks, but soon rec- 

 ognized them as small gulls, about the size 

 of a pigeon. They seemed to be catching 

 flies, some of which I noticed in the air 

 near. I watched the birds at least 15 min- 

 utes, and there is no doubt in my mind that 

 they were feeding, as they darted about, 

 exactly as the purple martins do when in 

 the air feeding. I never saw gulls do this 

 before, although they are numerous on the 

 lake, and I am much interested to know 

 if what I state has been observed before by 

 anyone else. 



Frederick Wahl, Milwaukee, Wis. 



"You look awfully tired, young man," 

 said the benevolent woman to the young 

 man with the books under his arm. 



"Yes, ma'am," replied the student, "I'm 

 studying for a doctor." 



"It's a shame ! Why don't you let the 

 doctor study for himself?" — Yonkers 

 Statesman. 



Mamma — Don't lounge that way, Tom- 

 my. Sit up like a man. 



Tommy — Why, mamma, men sit down; 

 it's only dogs and rabbits that sit up. — 

 Philadelphia Press, 



