De tage ass eC Nie bo. U ts halon 35 
Some Letters 
to the Editor 
Oak Brook, Ill. — A letter in a re- 
cent Sun-Times (“Stop Slaughter 
of Mourning Doves”) prompts me 
to write in hopes that members of 
our Society can become influential 
in changing hunting laws covering 
the mourning dove. When I moved 
here three years ago from Long 
Island, I was appalled to learn that 
this gentle, shy bird was considered 
a game species. We had so many 
in our neighborhoods back there, 
and I missed their plaintive 
sounds. Here, I’ve spotted only one 
lone pair. Now I understand why. 
Mrs. C. L. Haussermann 
Des Plaines, Il]. — Much has been 
heard recently about poisoning of 
animals in the West by sheepmen 
and by our own government on the 
peoples’ lands. We can help by 
urging each chapter of IAS to be 
responsible for originating peti- 
tions for forwarding to our sena- 
tors and the President (who him- 
self said he cannot win without 
Illinois). These petitions ought to 
state: No funds for poisoning ani- 
mals on government lands; no poi- 
soning of eagles, and no poisoning 
oi predators and prairie dogs. 
Name Withheld on Request 
Evansion, Ill. — Several days ago 
while browsing in the bird books 
at the library, I was surprised to 
come upon one by Gene Stratton 
Porter (Mrs. Charles Darwin Por- 
ter) entitled “Homing with the 
Birds.” Until then, I had not been 
aware that she had written almost 
as many nature books as novels. 
Growing up on a farm in northeast 
Indiana near the great Limberlost 
Swamp, she took delight as a child 
in birds, moths, flowers and every 
aspect of nature, and her first book, 
published in 1902, was “Song of 
the Cardinal.” 
In “Homing with the Birds” she 
tells about a Baltimore Oriole that 
she once rescued. A neighbor’s boy 
had shot down the nest with the 
newly hatched bird and several 
eggs still in it. She bought the 
little bird and succeeded in raising 
him to maturity. With a _ parrot 
and several song birds she had be- 
friended, the oriole lived in a 
screened-in section of the conser- 
vatory, but he had almost free run 
of the house. 
When she was sewing or knitting, 
the oriole would sometimes carry 
off pieces of thread and yarn, and 
spend hours weaving them back 
and forth between the wires of the 
cage. Seeing this, Mrs. Porter made 
a loose ball of twine, and from 
this he constructed a proper pen- 
dant-type nest. 
The oriole loved water, and 
would bathe two or three times 
a day. One of his tricks was to 
pick up a large pebble from the 
sand at the bottom of the sage, 
carry it to the highest perch, lean 
over and drop it into the bath to 
make a splash. As long as Mrs. 
Porter watched him and laughed, 
he would do this over and over. He 
kept the house filled with beautiful 
bird-song. 
One day she absentmindedly 
stood with the screen door open for 
several minutes. The oriole flew 
out and showed such ecstasy at 
being free that she realized it was 
cruel to confine him. When he re- 
turned, she decided to train him to 
be self-reliant, and eventually let 
him go free. 
From her many experiences with 
birds, Mrs. Porter believed that 
individual birds showed flashes of 
intelligence and ability to reason 
and learn beyond the instinctive 
process. One instance in support 
