PUBLIC MUSEUMS 
123 
Every student in such a course as this should plan to visit 
the public museum or zoological park or botanical garden in 
his city as the different 
parts of the course are 
taken up. Pictures and 
drawings can never take 
the place of seeing the 
actual specimens. Going 
to the museum is like 
going into the laboratory 
for first-hand study of 
the facts. It is studying 
nature as she is. 
101. Public Preserves. 
— During the past few 
years, large areas have 
been set aside where the 
wild life, especially the 
birds, can live unmolested. 
Many bird refuges are 
being established over the 
country where no one is 
allowed to hunt birds. 
In these refuges (or pre¬ 
serves) nesting boxes are 
put out for the birds to 
use, drinking fountains 
are kept running during 
the dry seasons, and food 
plants for birds are set 
out or the seed sown. 
Figure 112. —Nest of the Yellow 
Warbler in which a Cowbird Egg 
Has Been Laid. 
The warbler first built the nest at the 
bottom. When this nest received a cow- 
bird egg, a second nest was built on top. 
Again it was visited by a cowbird and a, 
third nest was made. When the cowbird 
egg hatches, the young is larger and 
grows faster than the small warblers. 
After a time this large bird crowds the 
small warblers out of the nest and they 
die. What should you do when you find 
an egg of a cowbird in a warbler’s nest ? 
From Zoological Museum, University 
of Minnesota. 
Many farmers post their 
lands in order to save the game birds and game animals 
that are in danger of being exterminated by too much 
hunting. 
