26 THE AU DOB OaNe B:U: To eae 
The May Outing 
HE Fourth Annual Spring Outing to the Portage Tract in the 
County Forest Preserve, started from the Union Station in a special 
car on the “‘Q.” Unseasonable weather again was the cause of many 
backing out at the last minute, but in spite of the threatening rain 
almost 150 bird lovers made the trip on May 14th. 
No large lists resulted from the outing, but warblers were much in 
evidence, with most of the common teas that are found in the Mud 
Lake district quite numerous. 
The most notable identification for the day was an Osprey that soared 
up and down the Des Plaines river as it hunted for luncheon in the 
muddy water. 
A month before the outing— April 17—a pair of Carolina Wrens were 
discovered in the same region, proving that gradually this large wren is 
extending its travels. Scarcely a year passes without several records of 
the Carolina Wren being reported in the Chicago region. 
Among the more prominent ornithologists attending the outing, were 
Ruthven Deane, Wm. I. Lyon, and Benjamin T. Gault who recently 
returned from a two years’ survey of the bird life on the west coast ot 
Ireland. 
A larger group than at any previous time attended from the Bowen 
High School in Chicago, about 120 being present. This high school has 
the largest bird club of any school in Chicago, and the eagerness and 
eficiency of the young people speak well for the work done by the 
biology teachers of the school. 
With thirty thousand acres of woodland in the Forest Preserves in 
Cook County, nature study in all branches should be very popular, and 
the conservation of wild life more and more a definite object in the 
public schools. 
O. M. 3: 
TaN ev as oi 
A red-winged blackbird 
Swaying on the brown and tattered head 
Of a last year’s cat-tail, 
Trills a joyous challenge 
To all the world. 
”? 
BertHA Jacques in ““Whims 
