6 THE AUDUBON BULL Deve 
the two nesting seasons. Five nests have been observed and each nest 
contained five eggs. Of these 25 eggs, all were hatched successfully although 
one brood of young was destroyed by an arboreal predator, and one other 
young hawk was found dead in a box from an unknown cause. 
The boxes have furnished the greatest aid to fox squirrels, which have 
taken to them readily. These squirrels are the only species of arboreal 
squirrels found on this farming area. They follow the fencerows and 
hedges, traveling long distances across fields, depending upon corn and osage 
orange fruits for their main foods instead of nuts and acorns. For this 
reason it has been possible to persuade these squirrels to establish permanent 
residence in places where they have been seen only occasionally before 
merely by providing denning cavities for their shelter. Thirty-seven young 
fox squirrels have been born in the boxes during the two seasons. Their 
population has been stepped up about 40% by the installation of the den 
boxes. Here is another instance in which the boxes have come to the aid of 
a game species. 
Occasionally in June, wild swarms of honey bees settle in a few of the 
boxes. During the 1940 season three of the boxes were taken over by these 
bees. Since they exclude all other species for an indefinite length of time, 
the swarms were removed from the boxes and put to work in more useful 
hives. The three boxes produced a total of 112 pounds of wild honey. 
Opossums use the boxes frequently for daytime shelter during the 
winter months, and a big raccoon found sleeping in one of the boxes last 
spring furnished the only sight record of that species known on this area. 
To summarize briefly the results of this nest box study on agricultural 
land, it may be stated that 56 large nest boxes constructed at a total cost 
of $98 and placed in trees and hedges over a four-square-mile area of 
intensively farmed land produced during the first two years a total of 32 
young screech owls, 19 young sparrow hawks, 37 young fox squirrels, 112 
pounds of wild honey, good winter shelter for a great many wildlife species, 
and a wealth of information on the habits and populations of all the species 
that use the boxes. 
Urbana, Illinois 
ff ft ft 
“WE STILL need about 76 additional refuges totaling four million acres to 
provide adequately for the birds while they are in this country, and numer- 
ous smaller areas must also be added to the system..... It is imperative 
that a great many acres of marsh land pass into public ownership of some 
kind so that it can be protected from needless drainage and destruction, if 
we are to provide for future populations of waterfowl.”—Dr. Ira N. 
Gabrielson, Chief of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the 
Interior. 
ay A ff 
AN OFFICIAL report of the Wildlife Service issued last July, referring to the 
storms of late January, 1940, states that the woodcock showed decreases of 
as high as forty per cent under the population of 1939. Such a condition 
surely calls for a closed season to give it a chance to recover. 
