140 



RECREATION. 



robin from that of our many other song- 

 sters ! How many there are who enjoy 

 a summer outing in the country, and yet 

 can not tell one from another a single spe- 

 cies of our common birds. Would not even 

 a small knowledge of the wild life they see 

 on every hand add to the pleasures of their 

 outing? Much might be said along this 

 line alone, but pleasure is not the only 

 object to be gained. If in the public 

 schools an elementary knowledge of our 

 common birds and animals could be gained, 

 it would tend to a greater interest in them, 

 because then observation would have a 

 foundation to work from. Then in 25 

 years from now we would not have such 

 a multitude of bird killers and game de- 

 stroyers as we now have. The ideas of 

 game protection and preservation would 

 prevail throughout the land. The school- 

 boy would stop robbing nests, and the live 

 bird would be of more interest to him than 

 the dead one. 



Dr. C. B. A., Keene, N. H. 



FOLLOW THIS EXAMPLE. 



I have 2 fish ponds stocked with trout. 

 I have not been very successful with the 

 increase, but those sent me from the State 

 hatchery grow very fast. 



I am protecting a large family of beav- 

 ers, having a mile and a half of river front. 

 I have it fenced off so stock can not tread 

 the bank where the beavers are and I 

 leave them cottonwood and willow to work 

 on. There are quails here in abundance. 

 1 stack my grain in the timber and cut 

 corn and shock at the edge of the timber 

 for the quails and prairie chickens to feed 

 on. The timber squirrels feed on nuts and 

 fruits of various kinds. If the winters are 

 too severe they come to my granaries and 

 cribs for feed. Next spring I expect to set 

 some Chinese pheasant eggs. My plan is 

 to set them under a turkey hen and let her 

 take them to the woods and raise them. 

 Can you give me any information in regard 

 to raising pheasants? 



J. B. Berry, Paddock, Neb. 



Here is a Moses for the wild animals and 

 birds. Would we had such farmers every- 

 where! I trust the time may soon come 

 when we may have at least one such shin- 

 ing example as Mr. Berry in each county 

 in the United States. — Editor. 



WHAT SORT OF A WORM ? 

 One day, noticing a commotion among 

 my chickens, I went out to see what had 

 frightened them. They acted like thev 

 had seen a snake. On the bare ground at 

 the foot of a cherry tree was what ao- 

 peared to be the head and neck of a small 

 snake. It was reddish brown with a 

 round head; and its wicked little green 



eyes, circled with white, seemed to 

 watch every motion. It swayed its head 

 and neck to and fro and darted its tongue 

 out repeatedly. I called to my daughter to 

 come and see it. The head and neck was 

 perhaps */£ inch in thickness and 1V2 inches 

 in length. Supposing its body was in the 

 earth, we got the hoe to dig it up. To our 

 surprise we found that what we had taken 

 for a head and neck was the entire creature. 

 We took it to the house, examined it with a 

 reading glass, and discovered it had a small 

 head, which it could project a little, and 2 

 eyes, which filled the whole front of this 

 little head. The strange spots that looked 

 so much like eyes were only spots, and the 

 forked tongue was only the antennae. I 

 never saw anything like it before, and the 

 chickens certainly believed it to be a snake. 

 Mrs. A. M. Marriott, Vernon. la. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 Coming across the gulf -from Havana, 

 Cuba, to Mobile, last April, with a detach- 

 ment of the 7th Cavalry, I was awak- 

 ened on the morning of the 15th by the cries 

 and squawks of many kinds of birds. It 

 was just growing light and was foggy as 

 I went on deck. I was astonished to see 

 numbers of great blue herons, night herons, 

 little green herons, least bitterns, kingfish- 

 ers and kingbirds flying in and out of the 

 fog and alighting on the rigging. A little 

 bittern found his way down in the hold, 

 among the horses and mules. He was cap- 

 tured, but soon released. When the fog 

 cleared the larger birds left the boat, but 

 some of the smaller ones remained several 

 hours. The steamer was over 200 miles 

 from land. The birds, of which there must 

 have been over 100, seemed bewildered bv 

 the fog and glad of a resting place. Thev 

 could not have been blown out to sea by a 

 storm, as the weather for several days had 

 been calm; so I suppose they were mi- 

 grating North from the West Indies. Is it 

 the habit of birds of such widelv different 

 varieties to migrate together? 



C. O. Moseley, M. D., Lytle, Ga. 



Have just read Fred Wahl's letter about 

 providing homes for birds. I am glad 

 there is one person who realizes that 1 bird 

 house should resemble as much as possible 

 the natural nesting place of the bird. Orr 

 nate little structures with doors, windows 

 and gable roofs are absurd when one con- 

 siders the purpose for which they are in- 

 tended. The diameter of a hole that will 

 admit tree swallows while excluding spar- 

 rows, could be easily found by experiment 

 It will be between 1 and 1% inches. For 

 the tree swallow the entrance should be as 

 near the top of the box as possible. 



Edmond Sawyer, Englewood, N. J. 



