2 THE AU D Usb O'N 4 5 U4 epee 
the entire morning on the fence wires and the posts near one of the boxes. 
Nearly any morning we can look out from our living rdom window and see 
anywhere from 50 to 100 Bluebirds enjoying our hospitality. Seeing them 
here in apparent safety and contentment we no longer wonder why they 
have disappeared from the lurking shadows around the larger villages and 
cities. They have found their proper environment and have accepted it 
as their own. 
The reward for such a small effort has given us a burst of incentive to 
provide more nesting sites for them next year, and if our plans work out 
we hope to have several hundred boxes ready for them in the spring. Our 
own farm will support a hundred boxes easily and our neighbors will be 
only too glad to cooperate with us. This is the hill country where ‘Love 
thy neighbor” is not the name of a song, but rather one of the unwritten 
laws. 
The Mockingbird is an every day guest and seems to spend most of his 
time in glorious song. During the early summer months they would sing 
most of the night as well as all through the day and it was not unusual to 
hear them singing at midnight. Now (October) they sing only during the 
daytime but are at it from dawn to dusk. We took time off from the busi- 
ness of getting settled and putting our things in order to band a nest of 
young mockers on the day we arrived here. We have caught a few in our 
traps and find that they are attracted only by water. In fact nearly all 
of the birds banded to date have been taken with water as bait. 
A few weeks ago we turned our dairy herd into a pasture that had not 
been used for about a month. We were thrilled to find a nest of the Bob- 
white after a few days, only to be disappointed in finding that it had been 
deserted after turning’ the cattle into the pasture. We felt that we were 
to blame for the nest being deserted but had no way of knowing its where- 
abouts until the bird was flushed by one of the cows. Examination of the 
17 eggs showed that they had been incubated for several days and most of 
them seemed to be fertile. Even at this late date we see families of Bob- 
whites that look to be only a few days old and are surprised that they 
would be bringing off their broods so late in the season. 
The Cardinals are numerous and today we were able to catch our first 
individual for banding (October 10), a male with the most pronounced red 
top-knot we have ever seen. He seemed so much brighter and larger than 
the Cardinals we are used to in Illinois and we wonder at the difference in 
their calls. There is a difference but we are unable to put our finger on 
just what the variation amounts to. 
To a city-weary bird-bander the Ozarks seem to be the place for new 
plans and new ambitions. The birds are here to enjoy and the surprises 
are many. Birds that we were acquainted with as winter visitors in 
Illinois are permanent residents here and the thrill of catching a Titmouse 
in Illinois is small compared to the thrill of seeing them in flocks in 
Arkansas and catching them in the traps two at a time. Hill-billies we 
are, but we love it. 
Cardinal Farm, Berryville, Arkansas 
