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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1907 



what I heard was a shout of derisive laughter at the ease with 

 which the feat was accomplished. The flicker seems to be 

 something of a practical joker as well as a natural explorer. 

 Me sips water from the pan, looks into the bluebird's nest, 

 samples the food at the dish, and then may not enter the yard 

 again for a month. The only thing that brings him seems to 

 be curiosity. I frequently see him, together with his mate, at 



The Downy Woodpecker Is with Us Summer and Winter 



an ant hill in my neighbor's yard. Sometimes they are joined 

 by a third, and then the feast of ants seems to be one of great 

 ceremony. If abundance of bowing is any criterion, the 

 flickers are politest of birds. 



I said that Downy was excavating a nesting hole in the half- 

 dead tree at the foot of my yard. I hope the prophecy may 

 prove true. He has been pecking away there for several days, 

 and he works like one who is facing the stern realities of 

 household cares — solemn like. His bigger cousin — the hairy 

 woodpecker — fed ravenously at my table all winter, but when 

 the first warm breath of spring came he was gone, and has 

 not returned. His nest he will conceal from me in some lonely 

 corner of the woods, and he will doubtless return for food 

 next winter without bringing his young with him. 



The white-breasted nuthatch leaves my table e\'en earlier 



than Hairy, and conceals his nesting place so well that it is 

 perhaps less known that any other of our woodland birds. 



For the brown creeper there is some excuse for an early 

 departure from my hospitality: Besides being by natural dis- 

 position something of a recluse, his summer home is far to the 

 north and he must leave in ample time. Yet, only the other 

 day I saw the juncos feeding with the English sparrows near 

 the woodpile, and these birds go north to nest. Each bird, 

 however, goes after its own method; the creeper proceeds 

 alone, and doubtless migrates slowly; while the juncos go in 

 flocks, and doubtless by long night flights. 



The bluejay I have with me always. There is not a month 

 in the year that he does not enter the yard. He gobbles up 

 my suet and nuts in winter; feeds from the scrap pail and 

 drinks from the water pan in summer; tries to steal the eggs 

 from the robin's nest in the silver maple; and takes his whole 

 brood trooping across the premises in early autumn. If his 

 mate can not find a better place she builds her nest in the 

 tree that overhangs my walk, and expects me to guard her 

 young from the neighborhood cats when, with short tails and 

 inadequate wings, they come bumping upon the lawn from the 

 nest. 



For real companionship the black-capped chickadees are my 

 favorites. They seem to appreciate every billful that you 

 provide for them; they do not scamper off as soon as spring 

 arrives, but return occasionally, not for food, but out of sheer 

 friendliness. They do not leave one until household duties 

 actually compel them to woods or orchards. In the autumn 

 they bring their young to show how kindly the season has 

 dealt with them; and the more they bring the more you are 

 pleased. 



When the house wren arrives, business In the bird world 

 seems to begin in earnest. Of course. It has been going on all 

 the time, but hardly with the proper eclat. Upon the wren's 

 arrival, steam seems to be turned on ; the buzz of wheels seems 

 to be heard; things move. Without my pair of wrens, I 

 should certainly think that summer affairs In my back yard 

 lacked superintendence and push. I seem to feel relieved 

 when they come; and when they depart, an added responsi- 

 bility seems to rest upon my shoulders. 



Sewage Disposal for the House 



By Ralph Ernest Blake 



HE sanitation of the house is not complete 

 without a proper and efficient sewage dis- 

 posal. In cities and towns where there are 

 public sewers this is a problem that offers no 

 dlfl'icultles to the house owner, as the single 

 requirement is safe and proper connection 

 with the sewer. In country districts the 

 sewage question has a personal application and interest that 

 makes it one of the most important matters relating to the 

 house. 



Sewage disposal presents two problems; first. Immediate 

 disposal, and, second, ultimate disposal. Immediate disposal 

 is accomplished In two ways, by the dry method, which is 

 without the use of water; and by water carriage. The dry 

 method is the most primitive of all forms of sewage disposal 

 and has little sanitary value. It entails the use of cesspools 

 and vaults, of the pail system and the physico-chemical sys- 

 tem. Within most municipal limits the cesspool Is required to 

 be water tight and must be frequently emptied. Outside city 

 limits porous cesspools may be used if the soil Is porous and It 

 can be arranged some distance from the house and wells; in 

 such cases the waste water escapes to the soil and the cesspool 

 may be used a long time before being emptied and cleaned. 

 The pail system calls for the use of water and gas tight 



Concluded 



stone or metal pails, which are hermetically sealed and emp- 

 tied. In the physico-chemical system various substances, as 

 ashes, dry earth, charcoal, carbolated sand, etc., are used as 

 deodorizers and dislnfectors. 



The water carriage system is the most modern and the most 

 used system of sewage disposal. It involves the construction 

 of a pipe system from the house, and passing through the 

 streets to the point of final disposal. Two systems are in 

 general use, the combined. In which the household wastes and 

 the waste rain and other uncontaminated waters are car- 

 ried off in a single system of pipes and sewers; and the two 

 pipe system, in which separate pipes and sewers are provided 

 for the two classes of waste. The pipe that conducts the 

 waste from the house to the sewer Is called the house sewer, 

 and the pipes In the street the street sewer. The combined 

 system is the one most used in cities. 



Various methods for the final disposal of sewage are in use, 

 some of distinct hygienic value and some positively unsanitary 

 and wasteful. The easiest method is to empty the sewage 

 into the sea or running water. The unsanitary value of this 

 method near large towns and on potable waters is so obvious 

 as to call for no comment. Tides cause frequent backflow 

 and overflow when the sewage is discharged directly into the 

 sea. This may be remedied by providing tidal flap valves, 



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