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NATCO -HOLLOW-TILE 
T HE vast number of Natco Hollow Tile buildings is 
no more notable than the diversified character of the 
structures which are now effective opponents to fire and 
other elements, because of Natco construction. 
Houses, factories, offices, buildings of all sizes and types arc each year enter¬ 
ing more and more into the fire-safe class — the Natco Hollow Tile class. 
Evidence of its popularity is plentiful in suburb and country as well as city. 
There can be only one conclusion. The use of Natco Hollow Tile in walls, 
partitions, floors and roofs does provide the safety from fire which should be 
uppermost in your mind in making any building plans. In its exemption from 
deterioration and its insulation against weather extremes, Natco further 
dominates the entire field of building materials — advantages that outweigh 
many times over the slight increase in original outlay because of its use. 
Be sure that all the Hollow Tile Blocks that p.o into 
any building of yours bear the trade-mark “Natco” 
and then you can be sure that the building will be 
all that you expect—safe from fire, safe from weather, 
safe from time. 
Before defining your building plans, send for 
our 64-page handbook, “Fireproof Houses,” 
fully describinp.with illustrations,every detail 
and phase of Natco construction. Contains 
80 photographs of Natco buildings. Mailed 
anywhere for 20 cents to cover postage. 
Write for it today 
NATIONAL FIRE • PROOFING 
• COMPANY • 
Dept. Y 
Organized 1889. 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 
Offices in all Principal Cities. 
Residence of Joseph M. Dale, 
Asbury Park, N. J. 
W. C. & A. F. Cottrell, Architects. 
HIGHEST STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE 
p ARKER, o PRE ST ° N ^ StaillS 
WATERPROOF AND ODORLESS 
Beautify the Home, produce artistic high tone color effect by then- 
rich and beautiful colors. Full of the manufacturers’ pride, con¬ 
science and science. Everything entering into their make is the best 
that man can make or produce, and are Stains of the highest character 
and quality possible, because the makers intend them to be. Made 
from pure Linseed Oil and our own Waterproof Protective Liquid Com¬ 
bination that creates an impervious waterproof coating to shingles, 
preventing rotting and decay of shingles. Cost no more than other 
Stains to use. Write for Cabinet " H” of Artistic Colors, Free. 
Parker’s Floor Coating prevents Dust Evil. A color treatment on 
Cement, Concrete and all Interior and Exterior floors. Asbestos 
Shingle Coating, Adamant Cement, Brick and Plaster Coating, Weather¬ 
proof Coating, Waterproof Flat Brick Stains. 
Parker, Preston & Co., Inc. 5f5Ewfci^ pai ? Sp ocSS , iE 
BRANCH. SOI FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
In writing to advertisers please mention House & Garden. 
Winter Residents of Woods and 
Fields 
(Continued from page 373) 
standing along the shore and among them 
some dozens of crows, their glossy black 
contrasting with the white and pearl-gray 
of the gulls. Many of the latter are on the 
wing and some are engaged in the oddest 
imaginable activities. These individuals 
have picked up clams from the shallows 
and flats and are carrying them fifty feet 
or more into the air and dropping them 
on the hard sand to break the shells so that 
the meat may be secured. The bird fol¬ 
lows the prize so closely after it leaves his 
bill that he and the clam arrive on the 
beach almost together, for if they did not, 
a dozen greedy pirates would rush in and 
reap the fruits of his labor. This often 
happens, the robber dashing ofif in frantic 
flight with the booty dangling from his 
beak while the screaming victim puts all 
speed into his wings in a sorry attempt to 
regain his meal. Ofif over the" waves they 
go, the leader twisting and turning to 
shake ofif and discourage his pursuer, but 
the rear bird duplicates each plunge or up¬ 
ward rush of the other; the chase continu¬ 
ing till the clam is gulped down or drops 
into the sea, in which latter case it quickly 
sinks and is lost to both birds. In the 
excitement of watching the chase we have 
forgotten all else and failed to note that 
on a sand bar some two hundred yards up 
the beach are a number of gulls whose 
great size and slaty-black backs at once 
distinguish them from the herring or har¬ 
bor gulls that stand near them. These are 
representatives of the more northern and 
wilder species—the great black-backed or 
minister gull, known also as coffin-carrier 
and saddle-back, names which were sug¬ 
gested by the bird’s black mantle. These 
fellows are silent when they come to our 
coasts in winter, but if we were to follow 
them to their breeding grounds in Nova 
Scotia and northward we should find them 
to be much more vociferous than their 
smaller relatives, for they seem to save 
most of their talking for nesting time. 
The cold of winter holds no terrors for 
the water and sea fowl so long as their 
chosen element remains unfrozen and the 
feeding grounds accessible. This accounts 
for the presence of large flocks of those 
hardy sea ducks the white winged and 
surf scoters, greater scaup ducks or blue- 
bills, whistlers, black ducks, and some 
bufifleheads and mergansers. There are 
also numerous old squaws or old wives 
flying at great speed up and down the 
coast line, keeping just above the waves; 
and if we scan the ocean carefully with 
our field glasses we shall detect a great 
flock of Bonaparte’s gulls seemingly as 
far away as the horizon, and dipping and 
fluttering like a swarm of tiny white 
moths. And so, as we walk mile after 
mile on the hard sands amid the flying bits 
of foam that have been churned by the 
waves and turned over to the wind, we 
witness a scene which, were it not for the 
( 394 ) 
