kleinI THE BELTED KINGFISHER 165 



bluebirds) , nail tin cover on top and over this nail another slab for 

 roof, support on shaded corner of house or shed as shown in figure. 



Tin can nest with bark cover; fit board to one end of tin can, 

 (this need not be round but angular, hence the use of plain saw), 

 saw notch for bird opening, nail in place, then wrap can with pieces 

 of old bark which readily fall off weathered sticks, secure bark by 

 wire band which may be extended as a hanging support for nest. 



Combination grain hopper and suet basket ; saw a six foot piece 

 of ordinary 4x1 board as shown in diagram, nail together as indi- 

 cated in figure, hinge the top on the back with a piece of leather and 

 nail extension on its front as a roof for suet basket, add also an 

 extension in the middle of the front and tack on a piece of coarse 

 hardware cloth or fine chicken wire as a retainer for suet. 



The writer has several of these devices about his home and finds 

 great pleasure in the bird companionship which they have brought 

 as a return for so little effort put forth. 



The Belted Kingfisher 



Henry Klein 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Nature has given her tool-using animal, Man, a brain. With 

 brain power he has discovered the resources of the earth, the sea, 

 the air. With brain power he has mastered many of the elemental 

 forces and reached the present level of civilization. It is by brain 

 'power that he must yet climb to higher and even higher levels of 

 civilization and welfare. How has he done it ? Chiefly by devis- 

 ing tools for himself. With these tools he has become all. 



At this point I wish to insist upon the fact that mankind would 

 now have but a small proportion of its useful and useless tools had 

 not Nature furnished him models. The human engine, the brain, 

 would have been by itself entirely inadequate to the task of raising 

 Man to the pinnacle. Models in Nature have always helped him. 

 He has had to use them. He will be compelled to rely upon them 

 in the future. Can he conceive anything without having first 

 perceived ? 



It would be most interesting if we could follow every idea, every 

 invention, to its source. Our needles, trowels, forceps, spears, 

 awls, chisels, picks, hooks, scoops and strainers are all found in a 



