OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN, 
•ne Year 25 Cents 
ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
Single Copy 5 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society at Madison, Wisconsin 
Entered as second class matter August 23, 1909, at Madison, Wis., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879 
OR. XIII. 
JANUARY, 1912 
NO. 5 
NATURE STUDY AND BIRD LORE 
By H. L. Skavlem 
Iii order to gain any knowledge of 
alne in the study of nature, the essen- 
al qualification is the ability to pur- 
ae an accurate, critical habit of ob- 
rvation. 
Every student and trained observer 
ves in a world of his own, differing 
*om that of liis friends and associates 
i so far as their tastes and inclina- 
ons may vary. 
The trained mechanic or architect 
*es the flaw in a badly made door, 
indow or wall, be they but a fraction 
t‘ an inch out of plumb. His sense of 
/mmetry is jarred if the keystone of 
a arch be but a trifle out of propor- 
oii. Due to training in habits of ob- 
Brvation along these lines, he sees 
lings that are to the untrained eye 
iseen. 
An entomologist will sit for hours in 
e hottest August sun and, to the un- 
itiated, be apparently staring ,at the 
ire ground—this he repeats day after 
iy, perhaps year after year, until in 
ne he brings out a most interesting 
count of what he has seen—it may be 
i account of the ant, a bee, a solitary 
asp or spider, or any creeping thing 
latsoever. 
To us he reveals a new world, and 
ows us traits of insect life that are 
nply marvelous. 
The botanist greets old friends and 
ikes the acquaintance of new ones at 
every step he takes. Tiny plants that 
are “pesky weeds” and “toad-stools” 
to his neighbors, are to him sermons of 
beauty. 
And the bird-lover, more so than any 
other student of natural history, finds 
his friends by learning to see things. 
Here, there, and everywhere—with the 
architect he climbs the tallest building 
in the city and lo! there are his friends 
— ’tis the home of the night-hawk—in 
the old, abandoned chimneys, his 
friends are colonized by the hundred. 
With the botanist he greets them in 
fern-fringed glen, in the tops of the 
highest trees, in the tinest bush, in bog 
and fen, on land and sea—high in air 
and everywhere—he looks—his friends 
are there. 
''Southern Wisconsin is of particular 
interest to a bird student. There are 
few places in the country where bird 
life is so manifold as in southern and 
eastern Wisconsin. The pioneer Wis¬ 
consin ornithologist, the late Dr. Hoy 
of Racine, said more than thirty years 
ago: 
‘ ‘ The isothermal lines come farther 
north in summer and return farther 
south in winter than is the case east 
of the Great Lakes. This physical 
condition will sufficiently explain the 
remarkable peculiarities of Wisconsin’s 
animal life—the overlapping, as it 
were, of two distinct faunas. More 
