5.^a:<5i^C7V^H) . FORTHE PEOPLE FOK EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume VI. FEBRUAKY, 1922 Number 1 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. f^,^^\6^^H^^\ BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This issue contains a Report of the Activities of the Society during 1921. This Bulletin will chronicle llie affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 M on t hi y B It lie tin MEMBERSHIP. The Society needs $50,000 at least in order to increase its activities. Will you help expand its usefulness? The classes of Membership are Life Members paying not less than $25.00 at one time. Sustaining Members paying $1.00 annually. Junior Members under ten years, paying 10 cents. ADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP Bird Preservation Personal participation in the great work of saving our valuable and beautiful wild birds. Information Advice from competent specialists on the best methods of bird study and bird protection on the home grounds, in sanctuaries or elsewhere, assistance in identification Reading Room and Exhibition Hall Use at any time of the reading room and exhibition hall at the office, 66 Newbury Street, where bird books, pictures, charts, leaflets and all modern appliances for bird protection are displayed. Bird Lectures 'yy /Wa^-julyt The Society gives annually a Course of Lectures, illustrated by stereopticon and moving pictures by the foremost bird specialists of the country. Members have the first opportunity to purchase these tickets at moderate prices. Bird Sanctuary Members and their friends have free use of the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary for bird study and recreation. Monthly Bulletin All Sustaining and Life Members receive without further expense the Monthly Bulletin, containing information regarding the work of the Society and news of interest in the world of bird study and bird protection. LEGACIES The Society gratefully records the receipt of the balance of $10,000, final payment on a legacy of $20,000 from the estate of the late Mrs. Ernes- tine M. Kettle of Weston. It also gratefully records the receipt of $651.62 from the estate of Miss Louisa K. Adams of Brookline. These legacies are retained as separate funds under the names of the legators, so that they will always continue as memorials and perpetual reminders of the interest and good will of the donors. The interest of these funds will be used for the general purposes of the Society. Sums donated by will to the Society are placed in Reserve, thereby giving to the Society a use of the money which has peculiar value because of its permanence. The altruistic work of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, carried on for many years with increasing success, suggest the desirability of remem- bering it in this fashion. All the funds of the Society are handled carefully and conservatively, but the Reserve Fund, in the exclusive control of the Board of Directors, is especially worthy of consideration of testators who wish to make legacies of lasting usefulness. There will always be need of organized work for bird protection, a form of conservation of the greatest importance to the general welfare. The Reserve Fund of the Society, when of sufficient size, will insure this. Can you not help in this way? M ont hi y Bulletin 3 REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS. The Directors of the Massachusetts Audubon Society submit the fol- lowing Report. We feel that the year 1921 has been a successful one in our work, which has been pressed energetically. Especially is this true of its educational side, in which Ave feel lies its greatest value to the com- munity. More than one hundred thousand pieces of mail have gone out from the office carrying this educational message throughout the year, in addition to the regular correspondence. Inquiries of all sorts concerning birds form the bulk of the daily mail of the Society. These come in increasing numbers, not only from our own State but from all over the country. An average of twenty letters a day on such topics are answered. In addition people come personally in increasing numbers to the office for the advice and assistance in bird-protection matters which we are always glad to give them. During the year we have added 498 Sustaining Members and 30 Life Members. This is an encouraging increase in membership. BULLETIN As usual ten numbers of the Bulletin have been printed, the edition being increased to 4500 monthly. The interest taken by members in the Bulletin is very gratifying. Interesting notes on personal experiences and valuable articles on birds being contributed to practically every number. The editors wish to thank their contributors for this interest shown. They feel that it makes the Bulletin of increased value to its readers and will be glad at any time to receive such communications. With the November issue the Bulletin opened its pages to advertisers with excellent results. BIRD CHARTS In spite of the increased price of the Charts, their sale has increased. Their use is becoming universal throughout the country. Orders have been filled from 142 cities and towns, representing 32 States outside of New England. Printed matter explaining the Charts has been sent to every school superintendent, public library and public museum in the country, to all summer camps, summer schools and various other educational organ- izations, and we daily fill orders foi them which often bring requests for other bird-protection publications or material. CALENDARS The Audubon Bird Calendar, published annually, has had another suc- cessful year, and we feel that its message has been carried to a very wide constituency of bird lovers. Favorable comments on its usefulness and attractiveness are frequently received, not only from members of the Society but from many others interested in birds. CLOTH POSTERS During the year 4500 cloth posters have been distributed, reaching nearlv every section in Massachusetts. The use of these posters is not confined to members, but anyone interested in caring for the birds on his property is earnestly requested to communicate with the Society. A half- dozen are furnished free and larger quantities will be supplied at the cost of printing — five cents each. 4 M on th ly B nil etin BIRD BOOKS The work of the Society in selecting and recommending the best in bird books is very broad in its scope and we aim to keep on hand all the best liter- ature relating to birds and bird protection, as well as other nature books. Requests concerning these have become so numerous that we now issue a pamphlet which contains a list of these as welT as leaflets and other bird- study and bird protection material which we especially recomend. Through the courtesy of the State Department of Agriculture we were able to obtain Mr. Edward Howe Forbush's Bulletin "Outdoor Bird Study" with the imprint of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The sale of this valuable booklet has been extensive and still continues. During the year our sales of publication of this sort amounted to .|1816.01, and not only do we feel that we have rendered a valuble service in thus advising and supplying material to bird and nature lovers, but the modest profit which we receive has helped some- what towards increasing the funds of our Treasurery. To this list should now be added the new leaflet "The Story of the Audubon Society," com- piled by Winthrop Packard, with portait of its first President, Willia.m Brewster. BIRDHOUSES We aim to keep on hand for exhil)ition samples of the various makes of bird-houses and bird-protection appliances for inspection by members and other interested bird-lovers. As with our publications we are glad to order these for any of our friends, and while the small sum which we realize from their sale is, of course, helpful, yet the service that is ren- dered to our cause through feeding, watering and housing the birds is of incalculable value. Our sales have increased slightly over last year, re- ceipts totalling $376.49. EXHIBITIONS We still continue to furnish organizations, clubs and societies with samples of bird-houses, bird charts and leaflets for exhibitions held in various localities, and wherever we have furnished these exhibits much interest has been manifested in them. We furnish these exhibits for trans- portation charges only, and correspondence in regard to such exhibitions is solicited from any of the Society's members, friends or local secretaries. As in past years the Society last October exhibited for three days at the Eastern State Agricultural Fair at Springfield, Massachusetts, and a considerable space was given over to the use of the Society for exhibition of bird-houses, bird-feeding appliances, charts, etc., and a large amount of literature was distributed to the many thousands of visitors. Through the courtesy of the Allen Bird Club of Springfield, we were able to obtain helpful assistants to take charge of the exhibit and to assist in attending to the wants of visitors. The thanks of the Society are due to Mrs. J. J. Storrow, through whose courtesy the arrangements were made, to Mr. John E. Thayer for financing the exhibition, and to the Allen Bird Club for attending to the exhibit. TRAVELLING LIBRARIES In many communities where public libraries are small or lacking, our Travelling Libraries have been of inestimable value, and from the report of Miss Alice G. Chandler, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, to whom applica- tion for these should be made, the use of them has been wide in such localities. M o nthly B iill et ill 5 TRAVELLING LECTURES Our three Travelling Lectures with text and stereopticon slides still continue to be popular, and as they are becoming better known we are having more requests for their use. Our additional list of nearly four hundred slides is also frequently used by lecturers who wish to relate their own personal experiences. Sixty localities have used these slides, an in- crease of twenty-five localities over last year. This is indeed encouraging. LOCAL SECRETARIES The Directors of the Society wish to express their thanks to the Local Secretaries, now numbering 115, who are doing good work for the cause by spreading the gospel of bird protection in that number of different localities throughout the State. The Society would be very glad to hear of others interested in birds who would be willing to serve as Local Secre- taries in communities where we have at present no representative. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES Throughout the year the Society has been in close touch with the National Association and has been glad to help in any way possible in its good work throughout the country. We feel that in its newly elected President, Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, it has an able and energetic executive in whom all bird protectionists have the utmost confidence. We greatly appreciate the good work which this Society is doing in a large way for bird protection and the advice and encouragement which it gives to so many affiliated societies. Very many of our home Society members are also members of the National Association, and the work which both Societies do is thus doubly assisted. MOTION PICTURES During the year the Society's two-reel motion picture "The Birds of Killingworth" has been placed in charge of the Community Motion Pictures, 46 W. 24th Street, New York City, which has contracted for its exhibition throughout the country and to which application should be made for its use. This film is very attractive as well as instructive. Its use is steadily increasing. The Society has one print which may be obtained for special purposes on application at the office. THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIVE PLANTS This Society maintains at the Audubon Society office a stock of its valuable leaflets on the conservation of our wild flowers and ferns. It is always glad to supply members of the Audubon Society with sets for per- sonal use or distribution. It contributes annually to the work of the Audu- bon Society and shares with us the privileges of the Moose Hill Bird Sanc- tuary, where many rare and beautiful wild flowers may be seen in season. CHECK-LISTS In the past three years the Society has distributed free 5000 of its Check-Lists of birds to members and others interested. We feel that that number of people have thus been encouraged to watch and list the birds seen throughout the year. This service will be continued and anyone who feels that a specially large or valuable list has been obtained is invited to send it in for consideration and possible publication in the Bulletin. 6 Monthly Bulletin MOOSE HILL BIRD SANCTUARY. Some Things We Have Accomplished in Four Years From Superintendent Higbee's Annual Report ORIGINAL AREA AND PURPOSE Early in 1918 the Society, through its resident Superintendent, under- took the protection of birds and other wild life on a 225-acre tract of diver- sified farm and woodland among the hills of Sharon, hiring for this purpose a little old farmhouse near the centre of the property, on Moose Hill Road. Our purpose was two-fold: to demonstrate the value of birds by in- teresting people in their study and protection and showing ways of attracting them about the home, and to provide a safe retreat where our native birds might nest in peace, and be studied under natural conditions. PRESENT AREA From our original working area of two hundred and twenty-five acres, we have steadily increased, imtil at present we are carrying on this protec- tive work over an extended area of more than nine hundred acres, covering land under several different ownerships and with a varying altitude of from 240 to 540 feet. This has been accomplished through securing the good will and interest of land-owners in this vicinity. OUR CONSTANTLY INCREASING PATRONAGE About two hundred and fifty people visited our sanctuary office and viewed our exhibits during the year 1918. The following year, as our loca- tion became better known, some thirteen hundred visitors registered here. The third year this number was doubled; while during the past year we registered from all parts of New England and from many other States 4765 persons interested in the preservation of wild life. The value of this con- stituency for maintaining and up-building the work of our Society can hardly be over-estimated. As a result of these visits new members have been secured, local societies have been formed, and sanctuaries have been established in other places. SALE OF BIRD-HOUSES, BOOKS, ETC. While the purposes of the Society are in no sense pecuniary, we have gradually become known as headquarters for the best in bird and other nature books, bird-houses, food, and bird material. With new member- ships, contributions and sale of such material, $550.00 has been received here for the Society during the past year. The interest stimulated through these sales is believed to be one of their greatest benefits. STATE AND GOVERNMENT WORK Supplementing the work of our Society, your Superintendent through his connection with the State Division of Fisheries and Game, and the United States Biological Survey, renders separate reports of his activities to both these departments, whose helpful co-operation adds greatly to the interest and value of our conservation work. M o nth I y B u II e tin 7 OUR SANCTUARY BIRDS A definite increase of bird-life has been noted here during the past four years. A growing colony of house wrens has been established, and several of the rarer warblers have nested here, while birds in general have come more and more to our feeding devices, or taken advantage of the shelter and nesting sites offered them. One hundred and fifty-two nests were under observation here during the past year, these representing forty-two species. About seventy species of birds are resident with us during the summer months, and a total of one hundred and thirty-four species have been ob- served here by the Superintendent in the past four years. BIRD-BANDING The work of banding wild birds has been continued, and, though on a limited scale, some interesting results have already been obtained. One hundred and fifty-one birds, of eighteen species, were banded during the year. Forty-three chickadees were trapped and banded here this fall and winter. Many of these have been trapped again and again and are known to be the individual birds coming daily to our window-shelves. A white-breasted nuthatch banded on the 16th of September has been observed here every day since. Another one banded four days earlier dis- appeared immediately, but has since been found to be spending the winter at a neighboring place about a mile distant. Banded pheasants feed dailv about the dooryard. Among others, twenty j uncos, nine tree sparrows and thirty-one purple finches have been caught, and released with the tiny aluminum bands, — sure to be of interest where they are next heard from, and positively identified wherever they may be found. OTHER WILD LIFE As with the birds, lists of other wild life are kept for purposes of study and comparison and for the enlightenment of our visiting friends. Over five hundred species of plant-life have been identified here, to- gether with many other interesting forms. CHANGE IN HEADQUARTERS Probably the most important happening in relation to our work is the recent purchase by the Audubon Society of the estate adjoining that upon which our present headquarters is situated. This seems a most pleasing culmination of our four years of effort, and places the work on a more definite and satisfactory basis. With the establishing of a permanent wild-life sanctuary we may now hope for a stronger support from the friends of conservation. While our change is a vital one, we are fortunate to find a place so admirably adapted to our needs and to remain in the same locality which our four years' work has proven is so well fitted for our purpose. OUR NEW EQUIPMENT With our new headquarters we shall be better equipped in every way. A larger and more substantial house will give us much needed space for our constantly increasing office work and exhibits. Being also more readily accessible, it has a broader outlook, while the grounds immediately sur- 8 M onth I y Bulletin rounding the house are ample for our feeding devices, and may be made especially attractive both for the birds and for our visiting friends. Our "Meadow Lot" is well adapted for a beautiful little pond. A short trail from the house will lead up over the ledges to the summit of Moose Hill (now within the Sanctuary area), where a superb view of the sur- rounding country may be obtained. Our "Trail of the Big Pine" will now lead from the Sharon Station to our headquarters through attractive and varied woodland without touching the road, while a private drive from Upland Road offers an attractive approach to the house and eliminates the steep hill. These grounds contain some forty-five acres of land, well diversified in its character, and with changes contemplated should be exceptionally beautiful in a few years. 1922 LECTURE COURSE Members of the Society and friends are earnestly requested to note the change of place and time in the plans for the annual series of bird lectures, which will be held this year on the first three Saturdays of April — April 1st, 8th and 15th. These lectures will be held at Converse Hall, Tremont Temple, the lectures beginning promptly at 11 A. M. The reasons for these changes are several. Converse Hall is ample for our purposes, is centrally and conveniently located, and may be obtained at a saving of nearly $1,000 for the Course. Saturday afternoons, at which time our lectures have usually been held, are periods of multiple engagements, outdoors and in, for many people. The hours from 11 to 1 will release the audience in ample time for such engagements or give them opportunity to go away for the week- end. The change is something in the nature of an experiment, and the Lecture Committee earnestly hopes that it will be found to work well. Com- plete details concerning the lecturers, their topics and the other features of the course will be published in the March Bulletin. Full particulars with tickets will be mailed as usual to all members on or about the 15th of this month. Do not fail to remember the place and hour and reserve the dates. WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK Colored plates similar to the Birds of New York, 264 in number, illus- trating very completely the wild flowers found within the limits of the State of New York. These are the most beautiful and complete pictures of wild flowers ever issued. We have them in portfolio form with index at $3.25; the same bound, $1.00. We strongly reconmiend the bound form as it prevents loss or crumpling of the valuable plates. UNUSUAL BIRDS Miss A. E. Loker, of Natick, reports that she has had with her all winter a hermit thrush which she feeds daily. Mrs. H. L. Sampson, of 367 Harvard St., Cambridge, reports that on January 16, 1922, she saw a mockingbird near Longwood Station, Brookline. Mrs. James A. Stiles, of Gardner, reports that she saw a mockingbird there during the latter part of October and the first of November. Monthly Bulletin 9 REPORT OF TREASURER Receipts January 1, 1921, to December 31, 1921 General Reserve Fund Fund Fees from Life Members $ 750.00 Fees from Sustaining Meml)ers .| 499.00 Dues from Sustaining Members 2,2.59.50 Other Members .25 Donations 497.19 Lectures 2.895.85 Sale of Charts 3,.393.30 Sale of Calendars 2.055.39 Sale of Publications 1,816.01 Sale of Bird-bouses 376.49 National Association of Audubon .Societies, part expenses 849.20 Subscription to Moose Hill Sanctuary 136..30 Interest on deposits. General Fund .|67.33 Reserved Fund $46.98 114.31 Interest on investments of Reserve Fund 626.25 Interest on investments of Royal E. Robbins Memorial Fund 91.58 Interest on investments of Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy .... 2.023.65 Anniversary Fund 3.413.90 Bird Feeding 25.00 ' Balance of Mrs. Ernestine _M. Kettle Legacy 10,000.00 Rental of Film 15.00 Refund on printing 19.25 Refund on Exhibition at Springfield 50.00 Advert ising in Bulletin 50.00 Refund of amount not used for purcliase of Bonds 46.51 Legacy from Louisa K. Adams 651.62 Accrued interest that was paid on purchase of .|9.900 Bonds for Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy 232.51 Miscellaneous 18.00 Total Receipts $31,235.42 $1,680.67 Balance JanuaiT L 1921 1,635.04 12,602.95 .$32,870.46 $14,283.62 Expenditures 30,882.51 12,238.63 .January 1, 1922. Balance $1,987.95 .12,044.99 VIZ: Deposited at Old Colony Trust Co $1,976.35 At Office 11.60 $1 ,987.95 Deposited at Boston Five Cents Savings Bank $2,044.99 Investments of Reserve Fund: U. S. Liberty Bonds — first, second, lliird and fourth issues, al 41/4%, par $11,000.00 $11,000.00 U. S. Victory Notes, 4%%, $2,000.00 1,959.58 12,959.58 Royal E. Robbins Memorial Fund: U. S. Liberty Loan Bonds, $2,1.50. 3rd issue, 414% $1,996.96 Deposited at Boston Five Cents Savings Bank 3.04 $2,000.00 Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy: U. S. Victory Notes, 4%%, par .$20,100 $19,745.88 Deposited at Boston Five Cents Savings Bank... 254.12 $20,000.00 10 Monthly Bulletin Expenditures January 1, 1921, to December 31, 1921 General Reserve Fund Fund Salaries $4,937.95 Re'it 350.00 Printing and stationery 2,372.10 Postage .* . . l'844.92 Transportation 142.99 Telephone 103.91 Electricity 113.9.5 Supplies 512.20 Charts manufactured 3,105.92 Publications bought 1,615.09 Bird-houses bought 352.28 Advertising 177.66 Moose Hill Sanctuary, Sharon, Expenses 2,117.71 Transfer from Boston Five Cents Savings Bank for purchase of bonds $12,000.00 Transfer to credit of Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy 6.12 Amt. Dep. in Boston Five Cents Savings Hank for acct. of above 232.51 Lists for addressing 35.00 Electrical work at office 47.65 Folding circulars 74.21 Insurance on material at office 15.00 Insurance on Motion Picture 91.80 Expenses in re Motion Picture 123.00 New print of Motion Picture 148.48 Refund on chart 2.50 Refund on donation 5.00 Refund on membership 5.00 Refund on calendars 7.00 Travelling expenses 50.00 Purchase of lantern slides 17.00 Lecture fees, hall, etc 1,722.37 Painting ceiling 40.00 1922 Calendar plates 474.75 Rental of safe 10.00 Expenses of Field Day 37.00 Purchase of Bonds for Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy 9,984.51 Boston Five Cents Savings Bank for Mrs. Ernestine M. Kettle Legacy 15.49 Auditing Books 1.00 Springfield Expenses — Exhibition 50.00 Treasurer's Bond 12.50 Copying will 4.00 Miscellaneous 162.57 Total Expenditures $30,882.51 $12,238.63 FORM OF BEQUEST / give and bequeath to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Incor- porated, the sum of Dollars for its Reserve Fund. Dodson BiixJ Houses / am makint; birdhouia for ou because of vfan of fx- prrience in building houses that would attract the birds my own home and to yours. President American Audubon Association Wren Houses, solid oak. cypress shingles, copper copinsr, 4 com- partments, 28 inches high, 18 inches dia. Price $6.00 FREE Mr. Dodson's fascinatinc booklet, "Your Bini Friends and How to Win Them," with all the styles of Bird Houses and Mr. Dodson's valuable suesrestions. A colored bird picture suitable for framing will also he sent free. Dodson's Sparrow Trap is guaranteed to rid your premises of this noisy, quarrelsome pest. $8.00 Bird houses that endure "^^011 know the birds are ereatiires of habit. That is why Dodson Bird Houses are so securely built. Year after year the same birds will return to the same houses. You make them real neighbors. They learn to care for your garden and to sing to you. Dodson Bird Houses outlast sun, wind, rain and frost. JOSEPH H. DODSON 791 Harrisort Avenue Kankakee, Illinois Pu'ple Martin House, cottage style. 28 compartments, 32 x 27 inches. Price $16.00. Other styles up to $78.00 Automatic Sheltered Feedinj; Table — operates like a weather vane, al- ways a shelter against the wind, with 8-ft. pole, size 24 x 22 x 12. Price $7.50. With copper roof $10.00. SIMPLEX SUET -HOLDERS The best device for feedino; suet to the birds, encouraging them about one's home and helping them to successfully withstand the winter. Now is the important time to get them put up, although the birds will feed from the holders throughout the year. 35 cents each, 3 for $L00 $3.00 per dozen postpaid Simplex Bird Apparatus Co. DEMAREST, NEW JERSEY 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. Bring back the beautiful Purple Martin to every community, not only in Massa- chusetts, but all New England States as well, by using RE4L bird-houses manufact- ured by the JACOBS BIRD-HOUSE and MANUFACTURING COMPANY and in- dorsed by the birds everywhere. Send for our free annual Bird-House Booklet and a copy of The American Bird-House Journal and learn what others are doing in establishing Martin colonies, feeding winter birds and encouraging all kinds of house-nesting birds. JACOBS BIRD-HOUSE and MANUFACTURING CO., Waynesburg, Pa. w linn I O \|)LUME VI. MARCH, 1922 Number-2 r--i Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concp'-ning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 Massachusetts Audubon Society MOOSE HILL BIRD SANCTUARY FUND. February , 1922. To Audubon Society Members: The Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary is your Sanctuary. I know that evei7 one of you feels a sense of personal proprietorship in it. For five years we have made our head- quarters in the quaint old farmhouse on the Field property, in the midst of the Reserva- tion which now comprises nine hundred acres, stretching from Moose Hill Summit to the railroad tracks. Suddenly, this winter, we learned that it would be necessary to vacate these head- quarters. It looked like a disaster as a Sanctuary without a definite headquarters in its midst was unthinkable. Fortunately, it was learned that the Briggs place, adjoining, with a house and land both admirably fitted for our purposes, was for sale, and we have made arrangements to buy it. It will maintain our opportunity in the heart of the most picturesque region and the most desirable bird sanctuaiy surroundings in the eastern part of this State. It will be ours for all time. The price is $8,000. There are forty-five acres of forest, meadow, pond, brook and swamp. It would cost $8,000 to duplicate the buildings on it, which are peculiarly suited to our purpose. As a real estate proposition the estate is worth the money, every cent of it. As a permanent headquarters in the heart of our already established and widely known Reservation, it is simply invaluable. We want to establish for the purchase of this property and its improvement for Bird Protection a fund of $10,000, which shall be known as the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary Fund. We want you to have a personal share in the building up of this Fund, a vital personal interest in this Sanctuary. Thus purchased, it will be your Sanctuary, a perpetual memorial to your interest in our work, an effective Sanctuary for wild life, an easily available study and playground for every friend of our work. One feature of the house is a large "Audubon Room" which may be used for an audience room, for the display of the Society's material and as a Museum. It is planned that the names of all donors to this Fund, suitably inscribed, shall be displayed there. Will you not subscribe generously to this Fund? Please make all checks payable to The Massachusetts Audubon Society. Yours very truly, WiNTHROP Packard, Secretary -Treasurer. The number of mockingbirds reported this winter probably exceeds that of any other winter, at least in our recollection. Most of these birds are in the coastal region. Evidently mockingbirds are increasing in the northeast. Several are in Maine. Four mockingbirds have been shot by mistake for shrikes. It should be noted that both shrikes and mockingbirds are protected by law. — From the Notes of the State Ornithologist. Let us keep our eyes fixed on cardinal principles of conservation. Trifling details are often magnified. Here are some conservation axioms. 1. Save sufficient brood stock. 2. Control the take of each species. 3. Protect the immature — absolutely. 4. Preserve the natural habitats of all species. {From the Official Bulletin of the Minnesota Fish and Game Department) Monthly Bulletin 3 TREMONT TEMPLE BIRD LECTURES. Tickets sent to all members will call attention to the Lecture Course of the Massa- chusetts Audubon Society at Tremont Temple. Saturdays at 11 o'clock. April 1st, 8th and 15th. 1922. Please note carefully the hour and place. These tickets are sent only to members and a few others especially interested in birds. If you care to use them, please remit the price — $2.00 each. If not, will you not please remail them to us? NO COURSE TICKETS AT THE DOOR Course tickets will not be sold at the door and we take this liberty that you may have firsthand opportunity to purchase them. More tickets may be obtained at the office. 66 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass. Single admission at 75 cents may be obtained in the same way. RESERVED SEATS Seats on the floor of the hall have been reserved, price for the Course, including admission, |3.50. Admission tickets may be exchanged for reserve-seat tickets on application at the office of the Audubon Society, 66 Newbury Street. Boston, and pay- ment of the reserved seat price in person or by mail, sale closing March 25th at 12 M. Reserved seats for single lectures on sale at the office of the Society, 66 Newbury Street, on and after March 27th, at $1.25 each. April 1st. G. Clyde Fisher, Ph.D.: "John Burroughs and His Birds." Dr. Fisher, who is Associate Curator of the American Museum of Natural History, gives us stories of intimate visit with the great naturalist, tramps with him about Riverby, his home; about Slabsides, his rustic retreat; about Woodchuck Lodge and his birthplace in the Western Catskills. and his favorite valley in the Southern Catskills; all these with special reference to the birds. Illustrated by colored lantern slides from his own photo- graphs. This lecture will be preceded by the superb Finley motion pictures of wild bird and animal life. It will be followed by whistling reproductions of bird music by Arthur E. Wilson. April 8th. W. E. Clyde Todd: "By Canoe to Hudson Bay." Professor Todd of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tells graphically the story of an adventurous trip through the Canadian wilds with special reference to the bird and animal life along the way. The lecture is illustrated with over 100 colored slides. It will be preceded by some remarkable bird studies in motion pictures by Dr. Thomas S. Roberts of the University of Minnesota. It will be followed by whistling reproductions of bird music by Charles C. Gorst. April 15th. Arthur A. Allen, Ph.D.: "Birds in Relation to Man." Professor Allen, who has for years been making intimate studies of bird-life at Cornell University, shows most interesting pictures of birds, especially in their work of being helpful to man. There are two reels of motion pictures as well as numerous still pictures, making the lecture most entertaining as well as instructive. The lecture will be preceded by Finley motion pictures of wild bird and animal life and will be followed by whistling reproductions of bird music by Edward Avis. The Society has spared no expense to make this Course of Bird Lectures one of the most entertaining and instructive which it has ever given. Please note the return this year to Tremont Temple and the change of hour to 11 A.M., which leaves Saturday afternoon free and which we hope will be convenient for all. MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY, 66 Newbury Street, Boston. Mass, Monthly Bulletin Life Members received from December 28, 1921, to February 21, 1922 449 Beacon St., Boston 449 Beacon St.. Boston 8 Monument St., Concord Briggs, Frederick H. Briggs, Mrs. Frederick H. Eaton. Miss Harriet L. Sustaining Members received from December 28, 1921, to February 21, 1922 Ashby, Mrs. Charlotte Y. Barker, Wentworth P. Baldwin, Mrs. J. A. Barnard, Miss Mary F. Beals, Mrs. Harry M. Belanger, Miss Adeline Briggs, Mrs. Geo. W. Briggs, Miss H. S. Brigham, Mrs. Edith B. Brown, Mrs. J. M. Bruerton, Miss Editli C. Burnham, Mrs. J. A. Caldwell, Miss Charlotte E. Carleton, Miss E. C. Carlson, John A. Carter, J. Franklin Chamberlain, Miss Louise M. Chapin, Miss Florence Miriam Church, Miss Helen L. Clark, Mrs. Charles H. Clark, Mrs. Frederic S. Clifford, Miss Margaret Cobb, Dr. Gardner N. Goes, Fred L. Coolidge, Mrs. Sumner Colby, Mrs. Anna Cole, Waldo W. Colburn, Clarence Cummings, Miss Cutter, N. L. Dennett, J. Vaughan Doty, Augustus F. Dunbar, William H. Edmands, Miss Helen C. Edwards, Mrs. Gertrude L. Edwards, Leroy P. Eaton, Miss B. L. Emei'son, J. A. C. Esau, Miss Ellen Burfield Evans, Walter S. Everett, Oliver H. Everett, Otis Flewelling, E. G. Garritt, C. L. Hare, Edward A. Hoosac Valley Bird Club Kennard, Waldo Lawrence, Mrs. Chester A. May, Dr. John B. Meryman, Walter E. Morse, C. Haviland Pynchon. J. F. Scott, Charles Field Simonds, Mrs. James Otis Walton, Miss Mary Linton Wood, Miss C. E. Wood, Mrs. W. B. A. W. largaret B. .56 Elm St., Charlestown 11 Russell Court, Newtonville 2.33 Fisher Ave., Brookline 95 Lincoln St., Worcester 5 Vine St., Marblehead State Hospital, Taunton Dighton 186 Commonwealth Ave., Boston 38 Bullard St., Newton Centre Belmont 43 Ivy Rd., Maiden 57 Commonwealth Ave., Boston 45 Alban St., Dorchester Box 54, Waltham 505 Belmont St., Belmont Williamstown 293 Howard St.. Cambridge 113 Oakley Rd,, Belmont 91 Pinckney St., Boston 467 Holly Ave., St. Paul, Minn. North Billerica 401 Belmont St., Brockton 24 Elm St., Worcester 656 Main St., Worcester Middleboro 1080 Beacon St., Brookline 26 Fern St., Auburndale 56 Pleasant St., Fitchburg 39 Oak St., Middleboro 109 Parker St., Newton Centre R. D. No. 2, Framingham Trapelo Rd., Waltham 161 Devonshire St., Boston 525 Worcester St., Wellesley Hills Moose Hill, Sharon Moose Hill, Sharon 156 Newbury St., Boston 42 Dudley St., Medford 122 Belmont St., Maiden P. 0. Box 5137, Boston Worcester 57 Broadway, New York City 525 Worcester St., Wellesley Hills 204 Essex St., Boston Pine Road, Sharon Mrs. C. E. Carne, 41 Melrose St., Adams Duxbury 113 Oakley Rd., Belmont Cohasset 92 Bowdoin St., Winthrop 49 Brookside Ave., Newtonville 52 Oxford St., Springfield Box 243, Sharon 37 Somerset St., Belmont P. 0. Box 325, Starenton, Va. 10 Chester St., Allston 271 Adams St., Milton Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 THE TRAGEDY OF THE DOVEKIE By Arthur J. Parker That quaint and engaging bird, the dovekie, is uncommonly numerous this month (January) off the Massachusetts coast. There has just been brought to me, for the second time, one of these little auks to identify. This last one was picked up in Kendal Green, after the hard northeast storm of January 11th. The finder was puzzled and curious on two points. First, what brought this sea-bird so far inland? Second, why did it there perish, instead of flying back to its ocean home? (The mystery was deepened by the fact that these two birds were full-fed and in prime condition.) The first question was, of course, readily answered. Given the twofold agency of a high onshore gale and the thick obscurity of clouds and rain (or snow), it is inevitable that the buffeted and bewildered dovekie is often carried helpless inland, and stranded there. This combination of adverse conditions makes a victim oftenest of this particular species, partly, it would seem, because of its feeding-habits. Its favorite food, marine insects or "sea-lice," and Crustacea, is supplied most generously by the violent action of storms. The pounding waves stir the inshore shallows and bring this food from the bottom and to the surface. The dovekie, we may suppose, feeds to repletion, then, weary of ducking imder angry billows, essays to leave for other parts — supposedly marine. So, starting its "getaway" from under or the midst of a swell, it flies upward, darts like a rocket from the wave and launches on the gale. Then it is that our luckless bird is caught amidst the blinding murk in the mighty air-tide, and, lacking "sea-room," is promptly borne over the land. And there, sooner or later, decoyed, perhaps, by glimpses of wet or icy surfaces below, it descends — to its doom. But why its doom? Why (was asked) could not so strong a flier return to its ocean home on the cessation of the storm? . . . Because it cannot rise. This bird, superbly at home on the sea, is doubly lost on land. The level, smooth fields, or snow and ice, hold it as in a trap. Its small^ backward-placed legs give it no sufficient spring to lift it from the ground; while, to complete its undoing, its narrow wings prove unfitted to take quick hold on the air and are so long as to strike the ground in futile, exhausting thrashings. Like a chimney swift on a floor, or an albatross on a ship's deck, the bird cannot rise. Especially, the bird cannot regain the air when calm. It is said that a grebe, a loon, or an auk may sometimes rise from level ground, by launching headlong i?Uo a wind, wings outspread, to be picked up, as it were, bodily. But slippery ice or snow may defeat even this slender chance — the feet then get no purchase or power for a take-off. . . . Out of its element, indeed; dying (one might fancy) with longings after the friendly bosom of the familiar, unfrozen sea. How the great, impersonal forces of Nature combine at times against the birds! Something of an ironical fate would seem to have operated against those dovekies that were brought to me. The storm that carried them inland to destruction had first supplied them, perhaps lured them, with a feast. That feast possibly held them too near the fatal land, or too long. That feast provided the last straw of over-weight whereby release from the Uuid into the free air became decisively impossible. One dovekie I have just heard of (from Cape Cod) for which was reserved a happier fate. It was picked up by a boy; I think he may have been a Boy Scout. The boy held up the forlorn, homesick sea-dove on his hand. And thence, as from its natal eyrie or its accustomed rocky roost, the grateful bird launched away, and sought the ocean. 6 Monthly Bulletin PROPOSE FEDERAL LICENSE TO HUNT MIGRATORY BIRDS Passage of the New-Anthony bill to provide for Federal licenses to hunt migratory birds and for the establishment of game refuges and public shooting-grounds for such birds would affect about 5,000,000 American sportsmen, the Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, estimates. The bill has been favorably reported by the Senate committee on public lands and surveys. In the House the bill is in the committee on agriculture. The bill provides that each hunter of migratory birds shall obtain a Lederal license, at a cost of %\ for the season, the licenses to be issued at any post office in the United States. Out of the proceeds not less than 45 per cent is to be spent by the Government, through a proposed Migratory Bird Refuge Commission, in buying or renting land suitable for the establishment of migratory game bird refuges which would serve as breeding and feeding places for birds during the period of their flight north, or the closed season, and as public shooting-grounds during the open season. An additional 45 per cent will be used for the enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act, and the remaining 10 per cent for expenses in issuing licenses and other administrative expenses. The bill provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall be chairman of the Commission, and tliat other members shall be the Attorney General, the Postmaster General, and two members of each House of Congress. Rules and regulations governing the administration of the proposed refuges would be placed in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture. The proposed measure does not in any way obviate the necessity of procuring a State hunting license. The National Association of Audubon Societies favors this act, believing it will exert a vast influence on the protection of Wild Life. T. Gilbert Pearson, President, has sent out a call for funds to finance the work of the Association in favor of this bill at Washington. TO CONSERVE BIG GAME During the hunting season this fall more than 5,000,000 persons, estimates the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agri- culture, will go out with a gun into the woods and fields of America. Their going emphasizes the growing need of more adequate and uniform laws to conserve and protect the country's dwindling game supply. "It has been the practice in many states," the Department says, "to issue himting licenses for the open season to all applicants, with too little regard for the available game supply of any particular area. The hunters may far outnumber the animals hunted within a given section, and under such conditions the extinction of big game especially is inevitable. "The Department of Agriculture advocates a limited license plan for big game, based on annual estimates of game conditions in each district. This means that the number of big game licenses issued for a given area in one season would depend upon the number of game animals which it has been determined in advance can be shared. Proper administration of this sort should conserve game in the greatest numbers consistent with the reason- able demands for local grazing and other interests, and obviate the necessity for establishing perennial closed seasons, except on areas being restocked." Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 A TROPICAL BIRD CAPTURED IN WEST ROXBURY About the middle of October, I discovered a beautiful Roseate Cockatoo in my back yard. For three months he visited the chicken-yard every day for his food, and many nights slept in a large pine tree near by. As the weather became colder I feared the bird would perish and began to plan to catch him. He lived through that terrible ice-storm we had and the zero weather the week following. He would perch on the piazza roof, or in a maple tree, always in the sun and often close to the trunk of the tree in the best shelter he could find. I placed a shelf in the chicken-house, and he came to it twice a day to feed. I arranged the window of the house so that it could be shut from a distance by pulling a wire. I got rather discouraged after several unsuccess- ful attempts to catch him and a friend suggested that I feed him corn soaked in paregoric. Not having any of that drug, I gave him corn soaked in whiskey which he ate as though he enjoyed the flavor. But, instead of making him unable to fly as I hoped, it made him full of fight, and the chickens had to keep at some distance from his crooked beak and out- stretched wings for a little while. Finally, the day before Christmas, I hung a wreath near his feeding- shelf which hid the window a little, and in ten minutes after placing the wreath I had the window closed with my birdie on the inside. I kept him there a few days and then brought him into the house. Now he occupies a sun room and seems very content. Mrs. 0. H. HoDGiviNS, 1633 Center Street, WHERE BIRDS SPEND THEIR WINTERS Investigations on the status of birds in their winter homes have been undertaken by the Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, in connection with administration of the treaty with Great Britain for the protection of birds migrating between the United States and Canada. Many of these birds winter in South America. Valuable material collected by Dr. Alexander Wetmore, of the Survey, who recently returned after a year's absence in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, during which he studied the status of our migratory birds in those countries, will throw much light on the subject. Among our more familiar birds that Dr. Wetmore observed in South America was the well-known barn swallow that ranges with flocks of native swallows in open country. Many of the species encoun- tered were shore-birds found through the marshy pampas or on the coastal mud-flats; some were found to winter well north in the Topics, and others to travel as far south as the Straits of Magellan. Among our game-birds seen in Argentina and elsewhere were the golden plover and pectoral sandpiper. Game Warden Sam Warner reports finding black bass feeding on swallows at Kandiyohi Lake (Minnesota) on October 2nd. Two bass caught that day were opened and the birds found in their stomach. Mr. Warner expressed the opinion that the bass jumped and caught the swallows as the latter alighted on the weeds near the surface of the water. 8 Monthly Bulletin WINTER BIRDS IN METHUEN This winter, as far as the writer is concerned, the usual winter birds have been "conspicuous by their absence." No flocks or tree sparrows or snow buntings have gladdened her eyes as she has taken her solitary walks, but only a stray golden-crowned kinglet or a flock of chickadees have given evidence of their presence by their cheerful twittering. Other observers, more fortunate, have seen flocks of kinglets in the center of the village, where they congregated in a little pine wood near the soldiers' monument. During the bitter cold of a few weeks ago they ven- tured near the house doors in the neighborhood, and one, stiff with cold, was taken in, but died soon after. Pine grosbeaks have been seen by several in town, and the evening grosbeaks have returned to their former feeding-grounds, the box-elders at Tozier's corner. These large, showy birds, with their brilliant black and yellow plumage, come in flocks of twenty or more, to eat the seeds of their favorite tree till none are left, and then move on to new feeding-places. They usually shake the pods till the seeds fall out, and then gather on the snow under the trees and eat like a flock of chickens, making a pretty pic- ture against the white background. Thomas Smith, of the Lawrence Natural History Society, a careful bird-observer, reports seeing within the last two weeks five meadowlarks, four of them on the wing at the time, also from thirty to fifty snow buntings about three weeks ago. Starlings have wintered in this vicinity, and can often be seen on some high perch, such as a weather-vane whirling around in the wind, uttering their shrill whistles. Starlings imitate other birds' notes. The writer was surprised to hear the other day what sounded exactly like the wood pewee's prolonged note, till, following the direction of the sound, she saw three starlings perched on a weather-vane, and guessed that a starling was giving an imitation of the wood pewee. The wood pewee's song is usually asso- ciated with the long, hot afternoons of summer, and hearing it on a cold day in winter with snow all around, gave one a decided sense of inap- propriateness. Another bird story and I am done. Late last fall a white-throated sparrow was seen scratching among the dead leaves near our back door, and, on being followed, he disappeared through the lattice under the back steps. At long intervals this same bird was seen in the shrubbery or on the ground near the house. Bread-crumbs and bird-seed were thrown out for him, and now he is seen every day picking up the food. When approached too closely, he seeks refuge behind the lattice under the steps, where he is sheltered from snow and sleet. How he ever escapes the prowling cats, and how he managed to live through all the cold of the winter when we were not feeding him, is a mystery. I think it most unusual for a white-throated sparrow to winter in this climate. He may have been disabled in some way, or have been too weak to keep up with the rest of the family when they started South last fall. He appears all right now, and is quite domesticated. The black and white stripes on his head and the white on his throat are very distinct. I wonder if he will be able to find his "own folks" again when they come North in the spring migration? E. Schneider. Monthly Bulletin ^ ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING At the Annual Business Meeting of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc., held Saturday afternoon, January 28, ]922, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Secretary-Treasurer Mr. Winthrop Packard Directors for Three Years Francis H. Allen Mrs. Augustus Hemenway Dr. Glover M. Allfn Ralph Lawson Miss Minna B. Hall . Miss Harriet E. Richards Auditing Committee Mr. Edward L. Parker, Chairman Dr. Glover M. Allen ,, William P. Wharton Voted that the reports of the Secretary and Treasurer be accepted with commendation. Voted that the Society adopt the following Resolution: Whereas The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, although it has many large forest reservations, has no island reservations, except Penikese, held in trust for the people, and Whereas the sale of that island is now con- templated, and Whereas, a large part of this island is now occupied in summer by a great colony of terns of two species. Therefore, be it Re- solved that the Massachusetts Audubon Society, in Annual Meeting assem- bled, January 28, 3922, hereby recommends that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts retain its ownership in the Island of Penikese to the end that it may remain forever as a Reservation for Wild Birds. Voted to adjourn. Winthrop Packard, Secretary. THE GREENFIELD GROSBEAKS Mr. George W. Thacher of Greenfield, Mass.. writes to Judge John A. Aiken in Boston the following interesting account of evening grosbeaks there : Yesterday, January 3, 1922, a young shrike made us a brief call, perching upon the tip-top of an oak, upon the tip end of an upright branch, flirting his tail. He was round and ])lump, and I trust that a goodly number of house sparrows contributed to give him his rotundity! There are said to be many of his clan hereabout, but may our nice little titmice and tree sparrows escape their cruel beaks and talons. I think you know something about the flock of evening grosbeaks that visited Miss N.'s negundo tree last month, for a number of days. One bright 10 Monthly Bulletin morning, I saw eight there, with much satisfaction. After a while, the food supply apparently gave out in Union Street, and ever since Stone Farm has had daily visits from a flock of fifty or more! Patrick has kept a supply of sunflower seeds near both houses, and the beautiful birds spend nearly every forenoon at those stations, eating and perching in the trees! Early last week, in the morning, Mrs. R. sent for us to see them, but, sad to say, that happened to be an off forenoon. This A. M., Patrick came for me soon after 8.30, and we drove direct to Mrs. W.'s, where about fifty grosbeaks were perched in a large white oak, just outside of the wall. They came to the wall in numbers for the seed, and repeatedly came and went, uttering their "cheep" notes. There were many mature males in full plumage, and also females, and probably imma- ture specimens of both sexes. Think of sitting inside of Mrs. W.'s bay window and contemplating these wonderful creatures at a distance of only a few feet! It is certainly wonderful! All the Stone-Farmers depart next Monday, but Patrick, who is greatly interested in the birds, will provide a regular and abundant supply of food, hoping to retain his visitors all winter. I mean to go over again before long. If you have any business in Greenfield, you should come up some time before long and see this marvellous exhibition. Many of our bird- lovers have been entertained and delighted by this daily performance! From 12 or 1 o'clock, the whole flock vanish, but where they go cannot be discovered. The next morning they are all back again for breakfast! I do not get over the wonder of it all. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) •'HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price S5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. Boston Birdhouse and Bird-Book Co. OLD AND RARE BOOKS AIND PAMPHLETS ON BIRDS ALL THE STANDARD BIRD BOOKS Mail Orders Only Send for Circulars 162 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MASS. Dodson BiixJ Houses / am maiin^ hirdhouses for you hecame of years of ex- perience in huiliiing houses that would attract the birds to my own home and to yours. President American AuJubon Association Wren Houses, solid oak, cypress shingles, copper coping, 4 com- partments, 28 inches high, 18 inches dia. Price $6.00 Purple Martin House, cottage style, 28 compartments, 52 x 27 inches. Price $16.00. Other styles up to $78.00 Automatic Sheltered Feeding Table — operates like a weather vane, al- ways a shelter against the wind, with 8-ft. pole, size 24 x 22 x 12. Price $7.50. With copper roof $10.00. Dodson Sparrow Trap, guaranteed to rid your premises of this noisy quarrelsome pest, S8.00 Here are the houses that have saved hundreds of trees and shrubs Last March, 500 Dodson Bird Houses of various designs were installed at the Olympia Fields Country Club, Chicago. During the summer every house was occupied. The club grounds were alive with birds, bird songs filled the air. More than this — the trees, shrubs and greens were protected from insect pests. The troublesome mosquito was mater- ially reduced in number. A few Dodson Bird Houses scattered thru your garden — one hanging from a tree — will attract the birds. Mr. Dodson has created them after thirty years' loving study of the birds. They are most picturesque and built of staunch materials. We send them to you anywhere. Let them add a touch of refinement to your grounds. Write to Mr. Dodson. JOSEPH H. DODSON 791 Harrison Avenue Kankakee, Illinois FREE : — Mr. Dodson 's fascinating liooklet, "Your Bird Friends and How to Win Them," with all the styles of Bird Houses and Mr. Dodson' s valuable suggestions. A colored bird picture suitable for framing will also be sent free. Bring hack the beautiful Purple Martin to every community, not only in Massa- chusetts, hut all New England States as well, hy using REAL hird-houses manufact- ured hy the JACOBS BIRD-HOUSE and MANUFACTURING COMPANY and in- dorsed by the birds everywhere. Send for our free annual Bird-House Booklet and a copy of The American Bird-House Journal and learn what others are doing in establishing Martin colonies, feeding winter birds and encouraging all kinds of house-nesting birds. JACOBS BIRD-HOUSE and MANUFACTURING CO., Waynesburg, Pa. Volume VI. APRIL, i;22 Number 3 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 Massachusetts Audubon. Society MEMBERSHIP The Society needs $50,000 at least in order to increase its activities. Will you help expand its usefulness? The classes of Membership are Life Members paying not less than $25.00 at one time. Sustaining Members paying $1.00 annually. Junior Members under ten years, paying 10 cents. ADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP Bird Preservation Personal participation in the great work of saving our valuable and beautiful wild birds. Information Advice from competent specialists on the best methods of bird study and bird protection on the home grounds, in sanctuaries or elsewhere, assistance in identification. Reading Room and Exhibition Hall Use at any time of the reading room and exhibition hall at the office, 66 Newbury Street, where bird books, pictures, charts, leaflets and all modern appliances for bird protection are displayed. Bird Lectures The Society gives annually a Course of Lectures, illustrated by stere- opticon and moving pictures by the foremost bird specialists of the country. Members have the first opportunity to purchase these tickets at moderate prices. Bird Sanctuary Members and their friends have free use of the Moose Hill Bird Sanc- tuary for bird study and recreation. Monthly Bulletin All Sustaining and Life Members receive without further expense the Monthly Bulletin, containing information regarding the work of the Society and news of interest in the world of bird study and bird protection. LEGACIES Sums donated by will to the Society are placed in the Reserve Fund of the Society, a use of the money which has peculiar value because of its per- manence. The altruistic work of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, carried on for many years with increasing success, suggests the desirability of remem- bering it in this fashion. All the funds of the Society are handled carefully and conservatively, but the Reserve Fund, in the exclusive control of the Board of Directors, is especially worthy of consideration of testators who wish to make legacies of lasting usefulness. There will always be need of organized work for bird protection, a form of conservation of the greatest importance to the general welfare. The Reserve Fund of the Society, when of sufficient size, will insure this. Can you not help in this way? FORM OF BEQUEST / give and bequeath to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Incor- porated, the sum of Dollars for its Reserve Fund. Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 BIRD DAY AT SHARON The Annual Bird Day at the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary of the Massa- chusetts Audubon Society has been set this year for Saturday, May 20th. The spring bird migration varies, of course, with the quality of the season but it is usually at its height at about this time when all the warbler hosts may be expected. In any case, all the local birds will probably have arrived. As at present planned, there will be no formal exercises, but members and friends are invited to come to spend the day and enjoy the birds, wild flowers and woods, which will surely be at their best. It is expected that the Society will be at home at the new Sanctuary Headquarters. This is the white colo- nial cottage which stands near the junction of Upland and Moose Hill Roads, a little distance north of the former headquarters on the Field place. Last year fifty or more species of birds were observed during the day, several of them rare in this part of the State. Visitors coming for the day should bring a basket luncheon. Arrangements will be made to have sandwiches, coffee and ice-cream on sale. Trains for Sharon leave South Station as follows: A. M. 6:25, 7:39, 11:00. P. M. 12: 25, 1: 35, 2: 33, 3: 30, 4: 28. Return: A. M. 8:00, 8:44, 10:54, 11:51. P. M. 1:21, 2:52, 4:46, 6:14, 7:10, 9:07. BIRD SANCTUARY FUND So great is the interest in the subscription for the purchase of the Sanctuary that Mr. J. B. Kavanaugh of The Jamaica Press, Cambridge, Mass., which has for many years done most excellent printing for the Society sent in his check with the proof of the circular letter which he printed for us, thus securing the honor of being the first subscriber to this most worthy fund. Mr. Kavanaugh won this honor by a narrow margin, however, as he was but a very short period ahead of the subscription which came in from Mr. and Mrs. Harry G. Bigbee, the Superintendent of the Sanctuary and his wife. Deeds for the Sanctuary have passed, and the Society has taken formal possession and the work there is now going on. Money for the pur- chase was temporarily taken from the Reserve Fund and it is hoped through the generosity of subscribers it will be possible to replace this amount. It is planned that the names of all donors to this fund, suitably inscribed, shall be displayed in the main Assembly Room at the Sanctuary Head- quarters. OTHER SANCTUARIES The bird sanctuary movement throughout the country progresses rap- idly. There are now in Florida, for instance, eleven bird sanctuaries estab- lished by the Federal Government, mostly islands. Bird sanctuaries throughout the United States similarly established now number seventy-three. In addition there are some municipal bird sanctuaries and a number un- recorded but very large, established by individuals on private property. Dating from March 22, 1922, what has been known as the Lynnfield Res- ervation in the town of Lynnfield and the city of Peabody has been re- newed by the State Conservation Commission, Department of Fisheries and Game, for another period of three years. This is on petition from the owners. Now is the time to put out bird-houses. At the office of the Society, 66 Newbury Street, may be seen the best types of these. Some of them are in sto''k and may be bought here and taken away, any one of them may be ordereu through us and will be promptly delivered. 4 Massachusetts Audubon Society JUNIOR CLASSES The work of establishing junior classes in bird study among school- children and others throughout the State is being systematically and force- fully carried on by the National Association of Audubon Societies through its office with the Massachusetts Society at 66 Newbury Street. The attention of teachers in public and private schools is most earnestly called to this work, which can be made of great value to their pupils. Each pupil joining receives a set of six colored pictures of common birds, together with accom- panying educational leaflets containing accounts of the habits of the birds with outline drawings of the birds for color work. By special arrangement every teacher who forms a club of twenty-five or more receives a year's sub- scription to the beautiful illustrated magazine, Bird-Lore. This magazine is not only of great interest to the general reader but contains very many valuable suggestions for teachers. Any one interested in this work should communicate with Winthrop Packard, Massachusetts Agent, 66 Newburv Street, Boston, Mass. A MAINE COAST BIRD SANCTUARY Having acquired by purchase an island of twenty acres or more in Broad Bay, near the town of Bristol, known as Western Egg Rock, the Cum- berland County Audubon Society will establish a sanctuary for sea-gulls and other birds native to this coast. Articles of incorporation have been filed and name the officers of the society as: President, Arthur H. Norton; vice-president, Mrs. Percival B. Rolfe; recording secretary, Mrs. Alice Black; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Herbert F. Twitchell; treasurer, Mrs. Nellie M. Neal; assistant treasurer, Mrs. Fred B. Martin. Western Egg Rock is about three miles off the shore from New Harbor, is one of the best breeding places for birds in this vicinity, and is the home of the laughing gull, which, except for its colony there, is a stranger to the Maine coast. Herring gulls, sea-pigeons and stormy petrels also make their home there, and it is for the protection of these birds that the rock has been bought. Arrangements will be made to have a warden there to warn off intruders, and also efforts will be made to arouse local interest in the pres- ervation of this island as a bird sanctuary. The new Audubon Society will engage in other activities allied to this preservation of bird life which cover a wide range. The purposes of the or- ganization, according to the incorporation papers, are: "To acquire and diffuse knowledge of birds, and their great importance to the life and health of mankind in the economy of nature; to protect birds and endeavor to in- crease their numbers; to advocate that all public cemeteries, parks and estates be made bird reservations, and to advocate the increase of food- bearing plants in the selection of decorative trees, shrubs and vines for the same; and to encourage like care by private owners." An executive order signed in June enlarges the Indian Key Reservation in Florida by the inclusion of Bush Key and three smaller keys; these are of considerable value to the nesting birds, which are increasing in this vicinity. It is especially notable that considerable numbers of roseate spoonbills are congregating about this reservation. These beautiful birds, among the most interesting and picturesque of all the avian inhabitants of Florida, were nearly exterminated years ago by plume hunters. Under pro- tection they are gradually increasing in numbers and may again become one of the well-known inhabitants of the State. Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 THE FLORIDA AUDUBON SOCIETY The Annual Meeting of the Florida Audubon Society was held at Jack- sonville, Florida, with headquarters at the Seminole Hotel, the meetings be- ing in the hotel auditorium. Many Jacksonville organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, extended invitations. The sessions extended through- out three days and were attended by a large and representative membership from all over the State. President Katlierine P. Tippetts, of St. Petersburg, presided and the mayor of the city gave the address of welcome. The main address of the meeting was given by T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies. Dr. E. W. Nelson, Chief of the Biological Survey, also gave an address and conducted the forum. Bird reels, photographed by H. K. Job, of the National Association, were shown. The Florida Audubon Society is to be congratulated on its enterprise and activity and the good work which it has been doing throughout its State. FEEDING EVENING GROSBEAKS This winter I have been feeding a flock of from eight to twelve evening grosbeaks. They are inordinately fond of sunflower seeds. They appear to throw or scatter out most of the ground grain. I think they like the pea- nuts also. The woodpeckers and chickadees eat the suet and feed on the beef bones. The grosbeaks do not allow the English Sparrows any chance. After they feed they sit in the tree and pounce on the sparrows with fury if they come near. They also fight among themselves over the sunflower and ailanthus seeds. The latter are mostly buried under the snow now, as the ice-storm split the tree in twain and it fell to the ground loaded with seeds. When a bare spot appears they search for the seeds and try to pull them from each other, like chicks pulling at a worm. It is very amusing. If the snow ever thaws there are quarts of that seed on the ground, and that is what first attracted them. S. S. Webster Life member received February 21, 1922-March 24, 1922: Chapman, Conrad St. John's College, Oxford, England Sustaining Members received February 23, 1922-March 24, 1922: Barber, Miss Augusta 7 Winter St., Franiingham Buff um, Miss Alice G 26 Converse St., Worcester Burnham, Addison C 60 Federal St., Boston Caldwell, Miss Minerva 21 Kilgore Ave., W. Medford Clark, Mrs. Francis H Concord Clark, Francis H Concord Coolidge, Miss N. Eveline 17 Otis St., Franiingham Copeland, R. J., Jr 1009 W. Ash St., Salina, Kansas DeWolf, Mrs. John 5 Edgehill Rd., Winchester Dickson, Miss Ruth B Weston Douglass, Miss Ethel 49 Bowdoin St., Newton Highlands Douglass, Mrs. Mabelle S 49 Bowdoin St., Newton Highlands Dudley. Mrs. Mary E 83 Bay State Rd., Boston Dunn, Mrs. Luella C 137 Elm St., Gardner Lang. Miss Katherine J 192 Summer St., Plymouth MacConney, Mrs. J. B 55 Vernon St., Rockland Murphy, Mrs. Daniel F 14 Mason St., Winchester Pratt, Mrs. Herbert A 4 Pierce St., Middleboro Rolfe, Harry E 101 Chestnut St., Gardner Sprague, Mrs. Frank H 346 Belmont St., Wollaston Teeter, Mrs. E. L 76 Westland Ave., Boston Thayer, David Bates 148 Hobart Ave., So. Braintree Whitaker, Mrs. G. R 36 Symmes St., Roslindale 6 Massachusetts Audubon Society UNIQUE CANADIAN BIRD SANCTUARY A tag bearing a number of verses from the Scriptures and the name of James Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, found tied to the leg of a wild duck killed recently by Clyde Keener of Trenton, Jones county. North Carolina, has brought to light the existence of a haven for wild fowl on the north shore of Lake Erie to which the feathered tribes flock in huge numbers. Keener wrote Miner advising him of the finding of the tag. The latter in an answering letter stated that wild ducks and geese stop at his farm during the course of their migratory journeys and that he and the birds are the best friends. He said he had built a pond for the feathered tourists and that he feeds them five hundred bushels of corn each year dur- ing the two months' stay at his place. Mr. Miner's letter, in part, follows: "Thank you for having reported finding the tag. I now have tags re- turned to me off wild geese and ducks from North Carolina to Hudson Bay. In several instances the tags have been found by Indians in the far North after shooting the birds and they have taken them to Hudson Bay agents, who forwarded them to me. "I have had tags returned from twenty-three different states and prov- inces, the farthest south being Guydan, Louisiana, and the farthest west being Englefield, Saskatchewan. "I try to tag all the birds that spend some time at my place. Forty per cent, of those that I tag in the fall return to me the following spring. Others stay here all the time, in spite of the fact that the weather grows very cold. As I am writing you there are about seventy-five wild geese and forty wild ducks feeding within fifty feet of me. "It took me several years to get the birds coming. At last, however, a small bunch came and they apparently told others, until their little flock grew into a small cloud. In fact, I have seen the wild geese rise up so thick that you could scarcely see through them, and their honking could be heard over a mile away. "During the last six or seven years I have fed them in the months of March and April five hundred bushels of corn. When the birds stop off here they seem to leave all fear behind them. Even strange birds, visiting my place for the first time, let me come within a few feet of them. They evidently have been told by the old-timers that there is no danger. "It is a great sight to see all these birds together. People for miles around have heard of what I am doing and thousands have come to see the sight. Even these strangers can come within forty or fifty feet of the wild birds without causing them any fright. Not a single bird ever has been shot on my premises and the feathered tourists seem to know that when they stop off here they are on neutral ground. "Of course this is not so with regard to the surrounding territory, over which I have no jurisdiction. I have seen men shoot and wound a duck or a goose and I have seen the bird make a desperate effort to reach my place. Sometimes they succeed and permit me to doctor them. At other times they fall to the ground before they can reach the safety-zone. "I am opposed to deliberate slaughter of ducks and geese just for the sake of shooting them. We've got to be careful and call a halt to this destruction for, unless we are careful, it won't be many years before geese and ducks are hard to find. I am trying my best to give the birds what pro- tection I can. My system of tagging them is part of this plan. I have re- ceived letters from many hunters who have written me that they uphold me in my work. "There is always fascination in overcoming prejudice and dislike. Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 Wild birds, of course, consider all men to be their natural enemies. It has been mighty hard for me to convince them that I am their friend. How- ever, that conviction now seems to be spreading among them rapidly. Hun- dreds of new birds come here every year. I can always tell when a strange bird arrives. It seems very shy. Not so with the old timer, however. He comes sailing in as fast as he can, honking a welcome and proceeds to stuff himself on corn. "I have one mallard duck which was hatched and raised by a domestic fowl in 1912. She has now migrated and returned to me each spring, and has raised four families in five summers — two eights and two nines. "My friend, to see my pets return to me year after year for food and protection after they have evidently shied around and outwitted thousands of hunters who hid in ambush for them, and to see wild geese come home bleeding and with legs broken, makes me feel that my work is really worth while." AN ENGLISH BIRD SANCTUARY A recent visitor to the Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary, which is a bit of primeval England about seven miles from Paddington, a London suburb, thus writes of the birds there: I heard much about the nesting habits of the birds from my companion, Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, the eager naturalist who has been for so long the custodian of the birds' interests. Birds like to build round an open space so as to fly freely in and out, and it was round about the glades that the nests, artificial and real, were thickest. Birds are not at all difficult to please in the matter of a site. If you give them a beautifully-made box they will build in it to save trouble, but an old kettle lodged in a crook of a bough was quite good enough for a family of wrens, and some robins did well one season in the fragment of a bucket left on the ground, and another set of robins were quite happy in an abandoned beer-can. I saw an illustration of the decorative sense of a robin that took possession of a box. The nest only occupied one corner of it, and the robin filled up the rest of the space with a pattern of leaves. There was a thrush that ignored the nesting-box alto- gether and built on the top of the roof. Once there was a chiff-chaff that coveted a box where a hedge-sparrow had already built and laid her eggs. She proceeded to build her own nest on the top of the lot, but carefully avoided covering the eggs of her predecessor, having them as it were on the door-step. Now and then rare birds that very seldom build near a city take up their abode in the Brent Valley Sanctuary. The tree-sparrow, which used to be unknown in Middlesex, became common when the boxes were installed. Kingfishers have been seen flashing by the lake; snipe and woodcock have been seen too, but these have never built. The long-tailed tit has built its beautiful domed nest ornamented with silk from the cocoons of moths and the egg-coverings of spiders. Not only the birds but all the wild creatures that haunt the woodlands have thrived in the Sanctuary. Stoats, weasels, and hedgehogs flourish in the undergrowth, and the grass snake is not absent from this paradise. Primroses and ferns, at one time nearly disappearing, have been protected. the wood anemones come out in spring, and in their season the bluebells shine under the trees. Some interesting trees are found away from the thick company of the oaks. Among these I noted the wild service tree, that has such a pleasing red flower, the guelder rose, and the wild pear. Is all this to go for some factory? F. P. Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Pa^e Colored Plates by Louis Agassis Fuertes, Bruce Horsfall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawing;; and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, #4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price S5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT UP THE Packard Bird - Houses 50 CENTS - - WHY PAY MORE Used, approved and finally endorsed by the Massachusetts Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds. Featherweight, durable, ventilated, unobtrusive, easily cleaned, easily put up — and the birds love them. Chickadee size for chickadees, wrens, etc. Bluebird size, for bluebirds, tree swallows, downy woodpeckers, etc. Three for $1.25 in advance, mailed to any address. In New England, postpaid. Elswhere add postage. Flicker size; 75 cents each; two for $1.25 in advance. Mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elsewhere add postage. ADDRESS WINTHROP PACKARD CANTOr^, MASS. Volume VI. MAY, 1922 Number 4 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 Massachusetts Audubon Society FRIENDS IN VIRGINIA Often the Secretary is surprised to find how far the influence of the Audubon Society work goes and at what distant points we have friends who are interested. A letter recently from Yancey, Virginia, suggests this. There, in the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge, just on the edge of the Valley of the Shenandoah, Rev. Frank S. Persons, II, is in charge of three mission churches among the mountaineers. He wrote that he wanted to start a campaign among die children of the mission schools for the protection of birdlife. Literature of both the Massachusetts Society and the National Association was sent to him, with a result that Mr. and Mrs. Persons and three teachers of St. Steph- ens School became members of the Massachusetts Society and forty of the younger school children formed a junior class of the National Association. Mr. Persons writes that he thinks tliis is the first junior club to be organized among the mountain children of that section of Virginia. Mr. Persons is doing a wonderful work among these mountain people. CHECK-LISTS The following have sent in lists of birds of the year 1921 on the Audu- bon Society's Check-Lists with the total number of birds seen : Mr. and Mrs. George E. Burbank, Sandwich, Mass. 89; Lucy T, Winsor, 70; Mr. and Mrs. Harris C. Lovell, Osterville, 51; Florence H. Read, Barre, 67; William C. Wheeler, Local Secretary, Walpole, 60; Mrs. Frank H. Clapp, Southampton, 7] ; Robert William Burke, Duxbury, 70; Miss Bessie A. Graves, Southamp- ton, 96; Maude A. Graves, Southampton, 78; Robert W. Merrick, Quincy, 139. Besides the birds on the Check-List, Mr. Merrick reported also the Seaside Sparrow, the Goshawk, the Sickle-bill Curlew, and the Hudsonian Godwit. Some of these are unusual birds nowadays and their presence adds to the interest of his, the longest, list. Maude A. Graves, of Southampton appends some interesting foot-notes as follows: June 19, downy woodpecker brought young to suet; June 26, saw albino purple finch; September 20, hummingbird last seen; January 3, a flock of pine grosbeaks have been here about six weeks. Mr. and Mrs. George E. Burbank had the pleasure of enter- taining an orange-crowned warbler, which daily ate suet at their feeding sta- tion from February 2 to February 19. The Society is glad to furnish these Check-Lists to anyone wishing to note their bird discoveries on them from day to day. The editors of The Bulletin appreciate having these lists sent in and realize the fact that condi- tions vary so much that a comparatively small list is no discredit to any observer. Let us have as many people as possible working with these Check-Lists in order that the returns may yearly be greater. PURPLE MARTINS It seems as if more people were putting out martin-houses this spring than ever before. At present purple martins are scarce or wanting through- out Massachusetts. One reason may be that the martin-houses which, in former times, were abundantly supplied for them have of late years fallen into disuse. It is good to believe that the fashion may revive. The editors of The Bulletin would be very glad to receive information concerning the whereabouts of purple martins, of cliff, or, as they are also called, eave swallows, which formerly built in the State in certain places under the eaves of buildings, or of bank swallows, which nest in holes in sandbanks. None of these birds seem as common as they formerly were in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 SOME NEEDHAM BIRDS F. L. W. Richardson. Jr., who is an enthusiastic hircl student and bird protectionist, reports the following birds all feeding at his Charles River feeding station, April 1-3. junco, fox sparrow, song sparrow, tree sparrow, downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, red-winged black- bird, bronzed grackle, cowbird. crow, blue jay, pheasant, bluebird, robin. BIRD DAY AT SHARON The Annual Bird Day at the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary of the Massa- chusetts Audubon Society has been set this year for Saturday, May 20th. The spring bird migration varies, of course with the character of the season, but it is usually at its height at about this time, when all the warbler hosts mav be expected. In any case, all the local birds will probably have arrived. As at present planned, there will be no formal exercises, but members and friends are invited to come to spend the day and enjoy the birds, wild flowers and woods, which will surely be at their best. It is expected that the Society will be at home at the new Sanctuary Headquarters. This is the white colo- nial cottage which stands near the junction of Upland and Moose Hill Roads, a little distance north of the former headquarters on the Field place. Last year fifty or more species of birds were observed during the day, several of them rare in this part of the State. Visitors coming for the day should bring a basket luncheon. Arrangements will be made to have sandwiches, coffee and ice-cream on sale. Trains for Sharon leave South Station as follows: A. M., 6:25, 7:39, 11:00. P. M., 12:25, 1:35, 2:33, 3:30, 4:28. Return: A. M., 8:00, 8:44, 10:54, 11:51. P. M., 1:21. 2:52, 4:46. 6:14, 7:10, 9:07. A BATTLE FOR THE BIRDS Mr. Charles J. Anderson, of Springfield, reports a vigorous and success- ful winter's work among the birds. He has made a veritable bird garden of his Springfield estate and has had very many interesting adventures among the birds there. He has modelled a complete bird garden in miniature that can be mounted on cardboard for future reference. Among his bird notes for February and March is the following: "We had seven chickadees and six downy woodpeckers here feeding steadily, one of the downies, a female, spending each night in a Berlepsch house which is in the tree belt. This woodpecker, under observation for five weeks, was on exact time regardless of storm or sunshine. She went in at 4:15 P. M. and came out at 7:10 A. M. One morning, as I watched my clock, she did not show up until 7:15, and I thought she had missed, but on going downstairs found that the clock, which was new, had gained five minutes. She now varies in time, more or less. As I have food cones attached to all houses, this downy would stick her head out and look at the weather, and if was cold and stormy she would just come outside of her home, get some food and go back again for thirty minutes." Mr. Anderson had some serious adventures with a shrike which came in bitter cold weather and attacked his chickadees. He and Mrs. Anderson gave battle to the shrike with sticks and later with a gun, but in spite of that the shrike got one of the chickadees. During the battle he was seen to be carrying something which Mr. Anderson thought to be another bird but which turned out to be a fair-sized rat. In spite of the rat catching, Mr. Anderson has a very poor opinion of shrikes. 4 Massachusetts Audubon Society HUMMING BIRDS IN 1921 By Grace Sherwood, Jefferson, Ohio The 15th of May in this year of grace nineteen hundred and twenty-one came in Sunday. During the preceding week I had kept an eye out, for sometimes a bird comes ahead of schedule time. My watchful waiting was in vain until Sunday, when I thought I heard a bird. As I did not see him I could not be sure of the arrival until the 17th. They were slow in coming this year, and it was the last of May before the stragglers were all in. By that time our porch resembled a full-up convention hall with the delegates all busy. Eight years ago I would not have dreamed such a sight possible outside of the tropics. I never counted more than fifteen birds at any one time, but I know there were many more than that here. The only way I can judge is by the amount of food eaten. Since the experience of two years ago, when one bird came a week ahead of the others, and I found how little he ate, I have estimated roughly from that. For several weeks this season they ate from twelve to sixteen ounces a day. There were seven bottles on our porch. One was tied to a branched twig, and then stuck into a jardiniere containing an asparagus fern. For some reason this was a favorite bottle, and it brought the birds very near. They pay little attention to mother and me, but it is great fun to see them glare at strangers; the fun is not all one one side, for it is equally funny to watch a person who has never even seen a perching hummingbird, to have one dart in, perch by the bottle and give the intruder simply wither- ing glances between bites! I suppose I spend time when I ought to be "saving my soul" in watching our birds. On the afternoon of July 29th, between four and five o'clock, I sat on the porch with pencil and paper in hand. Every time I saw a bird I put down a dash. After fifteen minutes I counted dashes, there were one hundred and forty-four (144). It is difficult to calculate how many birds there really were, as some never got a chance to snatch a bite before they were chased out, while others managed to get a fair installment of their supper. Hummingbirds want meals at all hours, but at night and morning they devote themselves to eating with single-mindedness worthy of the cause. At night they eat until they can no longer see the bottles, then I fill them brimming full. If I am awake at daylight I hear them, and by the time I get up the bottles are nearly if not quite empty, and it is not so very late either ! I never expected to watch a ruby grow, but one can never tell. I had wondered when the male birds acquired their ruby throats, and now I know. The first suspicion I had was two years ago, when I saw a male bird weeks after the others had gone. He looked like a young one, and it oc- curred to me that his ruby might be new. Last year I all but saw the process. When the birds perch to eat, they often pause and lift their heads. One day I happened to be within two feet of a youngster and directly in front of him when he lifted his head and looked at me. There was a tiny ruby patch on his throat about the size of a pin head. After that I watched for him, and saw the ruby grow day by day; when he left it was nearly full size. After July the male birds get uneasy. I haven't the faintest idea whether the political situation in Yucatan calls them or if it is baseball. If the for- Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 mer, of one thing I am certain, our birds are on the fighting side; if the latter, we probably harbor their Babe Ruth, and it is time for the World Series. Whatever the call they prepare by eating heartily; not to them to start on a journey with empty stomachs! This year the males left, as usual, between two days. The lOth of August they were here; the 11th they were not here. However, from the 14th to the 17th I saw one male daily, and again on the 28th and 29th. I fancy the former was a bird belated for some reason, and I am quite sure the latter was a young bird who had acquired his ruby throat early. The first of September the females begin their preparation for the trip, and they too believe in full stomachs as first aid to a long journey. This season the 11th was their last day with us. Lonesome? Were you ever the one to be left at home when all the neighborhood went to the movies or to the Sunday School picnic? It is a fearsome thing to lose one's job! I sympathize with ex-presidents, and am only comforted by the thought that election will soon come again, and I am the only candidate! DEED WHITNEY GAME PRESERVE TO STATE The Great Whitney Game Preserve of 10,000 acres on October Mountain, east of Lenox, in the towns of Washington, Becket and Lee, was deeded this Spring to the Comtnonwealth ol Massachuselts for $60,000, of which the State pays $50,000 and private citizens the balance. The deed fills a book of 126 pages and is the largest ever recorded in Pittsfield. The Whitney Realty Trust, which sells the property, consists of Harry Payne Whitney, Payne Whitney and Thomas J. Regan of New York. The late William C. WTiitney, traction magnate, established the property as a game preserve in 1894. Contributors of $1000 each toward its preservation were Mrs. Henry White, Cortland Field Bishop, Harris Fahnstock of New York and Kelton B. Miller of the Berkshire Eagle at Pittsfield. Frederick G. and Winthrop M. Crane, of Dalton, gave $500 each and Mr. Miller guaranteed the balance. A tract of 1000 acres, mostly in Lenox adjoining the Whitney property, which was owned by the late Frederick Augustus Schermerhorn of New York, is to be given to the Commonwealth as a part of the reservation by his sister, Mrs. Richard T. Auchmuty, and that deed will be recorded before April 15. The Massachusetts Forest Conservation Commission has engaged Frank M. Chapel, mountaineer game- keeper for the Whitney estate for 25 years, as reservation caretaker. BIRD SANCTUARY FUND At the date of going to press the Bird Sanctuary fund totals something better than $4,000. So far 260 members and friends have subscribed. One generous subscriber has forwarded $1,000. There has been one subscription of $800, several of $100, and fifties and twenty-fives have been still more numerous. This is a good showing, yet there is some disappointment in the fact that so small a proportion of our membership has thus far shown interest. It is earnestly to be hoped that every one of our four thousand members will be included in our list. The names of all donors (not the amounts), suitably inscribed, will be shown on the wall of the exhibition room at the Sanctuary Headquarters. 6 Massachusetts Audubon Society THE FUN OF BIRD BANDING By Kathleen M. Hempel, Elkader, Iowa. I have often wondered if any one took up bird banding for the same reason that I did? I will confess that what attracted me most was the fact that I could actually handle the wild birds, study them at close range, ex- amine their plumage, and feel that at last I was really becoming acquainted with the little people of the trees. Of course, I w^as interested in the scientific side too, discovering whether birds banded would return the next year, how far they travelled, how long they lived, and other questions that we are going to try to solve in this way. All this I have found more interesting than I ever thought it could be, and I welcome with enthusiasm all entrants to my trap, whether new, repeats, or returns. But true bird lovers will understand what I mean when I say that the most fascinating pai^t of it all is the fact that I can really hold the birds in my hands. It was in the fall of 1920, when the Biological Survey began calling for volimteers, that I began the work. It took some time before I could get a tinner to make my trap, and so it was December before I got fairly started. I selected our back yard as my station, for in the first place the birds had been coming there a good many years for food, as I always have fed them each winter. On an elm tree there is a suet holder always filled with suet, even in summer, and this attracts the woodpeckers all the year around. I always have had a window box spread with cracked nuts, corn and sun- flower seeds. So when I was selecting a site I thought this would be the best place. I found if I placed seeds and other small bait in the trap it fell to the ground. So I took the cover from a large wooden box and set my trap on that. In this way, although the food fell through the meshes, it was not lost and the birds could pick it up easily. My first visitor was a chicka- dee. We were both frightened. I am sure that my heart fluttered every bit as fast as his did. I know I held him very awkwardly, tlie bird in one hand, the instruction book in the other, and finally I succeeded in getting him banded with no ill results. Nuthatches, downy woodpeckers and other chickadees visited my trap daily, and by spring I was ready for the larger birds. I knew that it would be impossible for them to enter, for the entrance was much too small. I surely was in a quandary, for if I enlarged the opening the smaller birds would be able to run in and out without being caught, but the idea of catch- ing the larger birds was too tempting to be resisted, and so with some large pliers I made the opening larger. The results were both satisfactory and disappointing, for though I succeeded in attracting the grackles, wood- peckers, catbirds, robins, and bluejays, the chickadees scuttled in an out in the most shameless manner, and I was unable to catch them. Finally I hit upon the following plan, which will work very well, until the chickadees find a way to outwit you. Still I advise others to try it. I secured some large pasteboard boxes and cut strips about three inches wide from the covers, these I laid along the funnel-shaped opening, with the ends extending into the first compartment. The birds ran in, but when they tried to get out they found only a small opening between the end of the slips, and this seemed to confuse them, for they either flew into the othei part or ran into the corners until I drove them into the other compartment and released them. At first I was afraid I would be unable to get the larger birds, but I caught red-bellied and hairy woodpeckers and blue jay also. You see the cardboard Massac h ii s e 1 1 s A it d u b o n Society 7 is very flexible and when the hirger bird^^ go through, it bends back to let them enter but immediately falls back into place. I was very successful even with the chickadees, until they discovered that if they hopped up on the slips they could easily get out, and so now I am trying to think of an- other way to outwit them. It's an interesting game, your wits against a bird s. Who wouldn't want to play it. The location I selected for my trap proved to be a very good one, for I could see it from the kitchsn window unci immediately release any bird that entered. A wild grape vine clambers over the trees above it, and this was generally filled with birds. During the hot spring days the location seemed very much exposed and I thought it best to move the trap. Down back of the elm tree was an elderberry bush with long drooping branches. This was just the place; the wood house also made a deep shadow, so it would only be during the early morning hours that the sun could reach it. It was fortunate that I moved to this location, for the very day the catbirds arrived they went slipping through the low^ shrubs and of course found the trap and entered, and during the summer I banded ten. Although I did not get many chickadees during the summer months I believe that it was not due to the change of location, but rather that they preferred the woodland dainties to any that I could furnish. As I could not see the trap from the window, I had to visit it every little while, although the catbirds generally made their presence known by cries of rage. Very often I would have two catbirds in the trap at once. A couple that I thought must be mates got the habit of repeating together. I always keep my trap baited and each night I cover it with burlap on the sides and a heavy board on top. If any bird enters late in the evening there is no danger of its getting exposed to the wind and snow in winter, or the heavy rains in summer. Sometimes one has strange visitors. Twice now on uncovering my trap in the morning [ have found a large rat as the inmate. Once while sitting at the window I saw a mouse run in, and had to place a small mouse-trap inside to catch it. Here is a good plan to keep one's bands easy of access. Take a box about the size of a two-pound candy box, in this place three smaller boxes on the bottom of which mark in large figures 1, 2, 3, then open seven or eight bands of each size and place them in the boxes marked with their re- spective number. Keep the small pliers, the note-book and pencil here also, and when the birds are caught it takes but a moment to adjust a band of the right size, note the number, time of day, etc., if a calendar and a clock are within easy view it simplifies things still more. Then in the evening, when I have more time, I fill out the record blank and my own permanent record. The first year I did the work I kept a note-book, but found that it took a good deal of time to look over the pages to find a certain repeat or return that I saw searching for. So I decided to use index cards in the following manner: 48440 1921 Chickadee — April 26, 3: 30 p. m. Bit and struggled. R Dec. 2, 4: 30 p. m. " " The above card is for 1921. If this bird should come back this year, I will make a card out for 1922 and fasten it to the other one with a small clip, and there I have at a glance his life history so far as I know it. 8 Massachusetts Audubon Society I use the same mixture of food all the time. To attract j uncos, chipping sparrows and cardinals, I use cracked corn, common canary seed, and sun- flower seeds. All the birds are especially fond of sunflower and hemp seeds, that is the seed-eating birds. But all the birds that have ever come to my trap, no matter what they are, bluejays, woodpeckers, grackles, catbirds and robins, prefer uncracked black walnuts. I have seen the hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers leave the suet and come down for the nuts, and in my estimation it is the nuts that attract most of the birds. The robins seem very fond of bread too and will gulp down great pieces of it. Unless the bread is soft, I soak it in water before putting it near the trap. If I have other nuts I use them too, but the birds all seem to prefer the walnuts. The best part of trapping birds is that we soon learn to know the birds that repeat often and come to look for their visits. It is something one never seems to tire of, for our interest keeps growing with the number of birds, and the desire to know if they will come back next year makes us anxious to keep up the work. Those who take up this work will never regret it. There is satisfaction in knowing we are doing something worth while to solve problems of migration, and other puzzles of ornithology, but the most satisfaction comes in knowing that now, at last, we are beginning to know the birds intimately. A BLUEBIRD REFUGE W. W. Sargood, East Lee, April 1st, 1922. Lee. Dear Sir: In regard to the scarcity of bluebirds in your section, would say that tonight I saw one of the most pathetic as well as unusual and unheard of sights I ever saw. There is an old apple-tree stump about ten feet high in which a pair of bluebirds nest every year, located here in the yard, and tonight the bluebirds began to flock in here in pairs, and even four and five at a time, and go into this nest, which is quite a large hole inside of the stump, until it was so full that they could not get in. They seemed so be- wildered and cold, and I began to think of something to put up to house them, and the only thing I could think of was some r libber boots and arctics. So I tied a boot to a post used for clotheslines a short distance from the stump, with the sole of the boot to the post, and placed a stick, crossways in the top, so that it would not close up, and do you know it wasn't five min- utes before they began going into the boot. They seemed to know that I had put it up for their protection. Then I put up another boot in a nearby tree and also some arctics, which were all used. One of the arctics I put on the house, and they even went into that. I counted fourteen that went into the boot on the posts. Such a sight I never saw or heard of. The last one to go in went at just 7 o'cock, after the street lights were lighted and it was quite dark. After it was dark I cov- ered up the end of the boot, leaving a small hole for them to come out of in the morning. Sunday morning I arose at 6.30 to watch the bluebirds come out, but was a little late as the boots, etc., were empty. However, those in the tree had not all gone, as I counted nineteen come out one after another and per- haps there had been more that I did not see. Today I cleaned out another Massachusetts Audubon Society 9 part of the stump and made some more places and we counted twenty-eight that went into the old stump and two or three in one of the boots. This is indeed the most extraordinary sight I ever saw, or expect to see. I wish you would come out and see the sight, as I am sure you never saw anything like it. Thev begin to arrive about five o'clock and flight lasts until dark. This may account for the scarcity in your locality as this little valley is sheltered and quite warm on the southern exposure and there is quite a lot of feed as well. There axe any quantity of robins. I have counted as many as twelve at a little pile of apples which I threw out. Hope you will not neglect to come out and see this sight as it is something unheard of for me. Very truly yours, S. H. Carter. BIRDS OF ST. ANSELM'S Frater Damian a Latter Day St. 1'rancis Everyone is acquainted with the phrase "you can't teach an old dog new tricks!" Most of us are familiar with the fact that there are great possibili- ties in animal training, however, when the wild things are gotten young. The ways and means employed in the training of these young, wild creatures has detracted greatly from the interest in their feats upon the part of all humane lovers of animals. Perhaps the well-known Jack London Club is largely re- sponsible for the awakened public conscience on the matter. But, however that may be, it is a fact to most people entirely unknown that kindness and patience can accomplish wonders with the wild things that live in our trees and inhabit our glens. The writer has, he must confess, always been somewhat amused upon seeing that gentle lover of nature, Saint Francis of Assisi, pictured in meditation in some woody retreat all covered, from head to foot, with birds. In fact the picture almost always invokes a smile in this prosaic age, for some reason or other. Imagine the surprise and incredulity that possessed him when he was asked if he would not like to feed some wild birds, coming to his hand from the woods. This was making the picture of the dear, poor man of God not so entirely other- worldly, thought he, and he quickly accepted the invitation of an old college friend. So, on the day appointed, I was at St. Anselm's College and accompanied Fr. Damian, 0. S. B., to his bird reservation in a secluded part of the college grounds. There were several bird houses in the clearing — ^the park is sur- rounded on two sides by woods — but no birds were to be seen. "They are off in the woods somewhere," remarked my friend quite unconcernedly. "We will walk around the circular path a few times and they will see us, and soon be here." So around the path we walked for fully ten minutes. "Here they come," remarked Fr. Damian, as he took a metal box from one of his pockets. "Just take some of this walnut dust in your hand and hold it out to 10 Massachusetts Audubon Society them; you will see them come in a steady procession." I did as directed, and, with a flutter, a beautiful chickadee landed in my hand. He took a morsel in his mouth, and another in his toes and made off for a tree. He had hardly gotten out of my hand before another pounced upon me! Then the "procession" started, for with their musical call they had communicated the good news to all the other feathery denizens in the nearby woodlands. As one perched on my finger tips and took his fill, another waited his turn on my hat! Then there was a steady procession, — as one went another came. Frater Damian then fed one from his mouth, the chickadee picking the bait of walnut between his teeth while perched upon his lip! Another religious stroked one as it ate from his hand long enough to have its picture taken being thus caressed ! I was beaten. "How did you ever accomplish such a feat?" I asked in unfeigned astonishment. "Oh, just by kindness and patience," was the reply. "I have tried to get acquainted for three vears, and at last they decided to trust me." It was certainly most wonderful to my matter-of-fact mind. "As you see, I have them so tame they will come to anybody's hand at any time," he continued. "I keep suet fresh on the trees," he remarked, "and that insures their remaining with me over the winter." Frater Damian, who at present is an instructor in the department of biology at St. Anselm's College, has certainly shown the way to bird lovers. He told me that he intends carrying the experiment farther, and has hopes of new accomplishments in the spring. His worst enemies are the English sparrows and the squirrels, against both of which intruders he is devising a defense. Needless to say, I have contracted for a visit next summer. An Alumnus of 1920. RARE BIRDS OF NATICK We had the song sparrow February 17, robin February 23, grackles March 6, red-winged blackbird March 12, bluebird March 11, fox sparrows March 24, sparrow hawk March 11, and phoebe March 22. The hermit thrush has been here all winter, feeding with the other birds. This morning the snow had to be cleared away before I could feed them, but just as soon as the food was spread, down they all came — thrush, robins, fox sparrows, juncos, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, bluebird, grackles, jays, starlings, and in the flock of starlings there is a freak, his wings and tail are a soiled white, black head and breast and yellow bill, almost brown. The mockingbird I have seen a good many times this winter — October 10-11, November 2 and 16, December 22, January 7 I saw the mockingbird on a bush quite near the house scolding a poor frightened cat crouching on the grass. I got quite close to him before he flew. Once again I saw him in January, but do not remember the date. Did not see him again until March 23. He was on the lawn and spreading his wings and tail and bowing as if before an audience. I wondered if his mate was not around watching him perform. Mrs. a. E. Loker. Now is the time to put out bird-houses. At the office of the Society, 66 Newbury Street, may be seen the best types of these. Some of them are in stock and may be bought here and taken away, any one of them may be ordered through us and will be promptly delivered. Massachusetts Audubon Society 11 Life Members received, March 25, 1922— April 22, 1922. Baldwin, S. Prentiss 817 Williamson Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio Hutchins. Charles P 50 Congress St., Boston Sustaining Members received, March 25, 1922 — April 22, 1922. Bearse, Miss Florence E Winnemay St., Natick Cole, Miss Marian H 2 Winter St., Salem Damon, .Mrs. F. M 73 Edgell St., Gardner Danforth, Miss M. Juliet 186 Elm St., Gardner Derby, Arthur P 106 Chestnut St., Gardner Dunn. Mrs. John S 99 Graham St., Gardner Ellis, Miss Clara B 262 Court St., Plymouth Evans, Miss Lillian 15 Norway St., Boston Farmer, Mrs. Malcolm 565 Lincohi Rd., New Britain, Conn. Field, Mrs. William DeY Auburndale Fisher, Mrs. Thomas L Legate Hill, Leominster Flood, Mrs. Annie A Southhoro Flood, John C Southhoro Foster, Miss Abigail A Wakefield Foster, Miss Madeline 1058 Walnut St., Newton Highlands Fowler, Mrs. Elizabeth 144 Newbury St., Roslindale Yrye, Mrs. E. B 21 Chestnut St., Boston Fuller, Mrs. Arthur 80 Court St., Exeter, N. H. Garland, Mrs. H. C 114 Fenway, Boston Gleason, Miss Annie .375 High St., West Medford Gleason, Edward H 83 Elm St., Jamaica Plain Gleason, Mrs. Julia H 83 Elm St., Jamaica Plain Gordon, Miss Margaret 54 Belmont St., Somerville Graves, Miss Gertrude M Care of Merchants Nat. Bank, Greenwood, Louis A 82 Graham St., Gardner Greenwood, M. J. East Broadway, Gardner Grinnell, Miss Rachel Lee 32 Maple St., New Bedford, Mass. Hale, L. G 16 Old Harbor St., South Boston Haley, Miss Mary A North Pembroke Hall, Miss Adaline S. P Watertown Hall, G. C 117 Summer St., Somerville Hayward, Miss Susie .36 Whitney Rd., Quincy Head, Miss Elizabeth F 23 Leicester St., Brookline Herman, Miss Louise Care Dr. E. W. Herman, Lincoln Higgins. Miss Lydia A Dover, Mass. Hilton, Herbert 133 Court St., Boston Holmes, Ralph L Beverly Farms Hopkins, Mrs. Ralph L 67 Mulberiy St., Springfield Hovey, Arnold Lee 129 Bellevue Ave., Melrose Howard. Frank A 21 Hartwell Place, Canton Howe, Miss Edith M 170 South Main St., Gardner Howe, Miss Elizabeth D 8 Washington St., Beverly Hoyt, Mrs. W. H. Wenham, Mass. Hudson, Mrs. Louisa 8 Thoreau St., Concord Hunt, Miss Sylvia W Kingston Ken worth, Mrs. George 42 Cross St., Gardner Knight, Miss M. Louise 25 Hill St., Dorchester Knox. Miss Eugenia C Leicester Nichols, Frank A 81 Edgell St., Gardner Osgood, Miss Lydia D 96 St. Botolpli St., Boston Pickering, Mrs. Eva M 42 Holden St., Maiden Rice, Fred B 10 High St.. Boston Richardson, Fred, Jr Charles River Slocumb, Elizabeth 27 Park St., Maiden Sumner, Mrs. Fred W Spring Lane, Canton Sutherland. Miss Helen Onchioia, Franklin Co., N. Y. Thacher. George W Greenfield Turnbull, Mrs. Sibbel Highland Ave., Headlands, Rock port Tuttle, Mis. George T 110 Highland St., Milton Walker. Miss Frances M. . , . • • 38 Vernon St., West Roxbury Ward, Mrs. Kate K 100 Graham St.. Gardner T^Tiitsey, Miss Mary G 134 Adams St., Milton Wright. Marcus N 23 School St., Gardner Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Pa ^e Colored Plates by Louis Agassi-z. Fuertes, Bruce Horsfall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawings and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, $4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. •BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. OUR BIRD FRIENDS An Educational Game for Home and School Indorsed by the leading Educators, Ornithologists, Scout and Camp Fire Leaders, and Librarians. Fifty-two of our common birds of the summer and winter illustrated and described. Price 50 cents SARAH H. DUDLEY Berlin, Mass. NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT UP THE Packard Bird -Houses 50 CENTS - - WHY PAY MORE Used, approved and formally endorsed by the Massachusetts Audubon Society for the Protect- ion of Birds. Featherweight, durable, ventilated, unobtrusive, easily cleaned, easily put up — and the birds love them. Chickadee size for chicka- dees, wrens, etc. Bluebird size, for bluebirds, tree swallows, downy woodpeckers, etc. Three for $1.25 in advance, maiied to any address in New England, postpaid. Elswhere add postage. Flicker size; 75 cents each ; two for $1.25 in advance. Mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elsewhere add postage. Address: WINTHROP PACKARD, Canton, Mass. Volume VI. JUNE, 1922 Number 5 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 MonthlyBulletin MEMBERSHIP The Society needs $50,000 at least in order to increase its activities. Will you help expand its usefulness? The classes of Membership are Life Members paying not less than $25.00 at one time. Sustaining Members paying $1.00 annually. Junior Members under ten years, paying 10 cents. NO BULLETIN UNTIL OCTOBER As has been the custom since it was first issued, the Bulletin will not be issued for the months of July, August and September. The editors have done their best to make each issue worth while to members and to all others interested in birds and our work for their protection. The editors wish to thank all who have in any way helped to make the Bulletin, especially those contributors who have sent in so many varied and interest- ing items. They hope that members will continue not only to read but to contribute helpful facts and quaint and curious items of bird-lore. BIRD SUNDAY AT THE SANCTUARY The Rev. Manley B. Townsend, Unitarian Minister, in charge of churches at Sharon and Medfield, Mass., formerly pastor of the Unitarian Church at Nashua, N. Y., and for many years Secretary of the New Hamp- shire Audubon Society, will hold a brief open-air service on the Sanctuary grounds, Sunday, June 18th, at 4 P. M. The members of his Sharon congregation will simply adjourn their service to the hill and invite the general public and especially bird-lovers to participate. The service will be especially appropriate to the place and to the work which is being con- ducted there and will, of course, contain nothins; denominational. BIRD DAY AT THE SANCTUARY Saturday, May 20th, was the Society's Annual Bird Day. The weather was perfect and the new Sanctuary was open all day to a throng of visitors from far and near. Members and others interested in bird-life were on the grounds early and late. Great interest was shown in Super- intendent Higbee's collections in the new exhibition rooms. At two o'clock the school-children of Sharon, led by Mrs. Harriet U. Goode, Local Secre- tary, and in charge of Superintendent of Schools Spaulding, marched singing up the hill to the Sanctuary Headquarters, where in the open air, under the brilliant May sun, brief dedicatory ceremonies took place. Rev. Robert F. Cheney of Southborough, one of the Directors of the Society, made the opening prayer. Rev. Arthur E. Wilson, of Boston, gave whistling imita- tions of birds, and Edward Howe Forbush, President of the Society, made a brief instructive and entertaining address. Somewhat over five hundred people were present, large lists of birds were obtained by enthusiastic students, and many expressions of approval of the new Sanctuary buildings and ^rounds were heard. Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 EARLY BIRDS IN THE SOUTHLAND I had the good fortune to spend a month this spring in southern Georgia, about ten miles from the Florida line. My trip might be called a "bird pilgrimage"; for I Avent south for the purpose of banding birds in place of Mr. S. Prentiss Baldwin, and practically all the time not taken up by this occupation was spent in the woods and fields with our feathered friends. Of the results of my banding operations, I can give only a summary here: I banded 313, and took 43 "returns," birds banded in previous years that came back to the traps this spring; these 356 birds "repeated" 1448 limes, that is, re-entered the traps after their original appearance, making a total of 1804 birds handled in 30 days. My bird observations can be divided into two categories: birds that are never seen in Massachusetts, or at best are not common here, many of them new to me; and birds that are regular, even common residents or migrants here, which I saw in the South several weeks earlier than they arrive in Massachusetts. Many birds that were common during my stay in the South sang but little or not at all. Some, like the ruby-crowned kinglets, sang frequently during the last week or two, but were silent during the first half of the month. But this does not mean that bird-songs were scarce or wanting; for with thrashers, mockingbirds, blue jays and cardinals common, to mention only a few conspicuous examples, the woods rang with music from early morn till late at night, and even during the night; for the mockers often sing then, especially when the moon is shining. A complete account of my experiences would be impossible here; I can give only the merest sketch, mentioning but a few of the many in- teresting birds. Two birds stand out in my memory as the best finds: egrets and wild turkeys. Egrets, which were almost exterminated to satisfy the desire of cruel women for their plumes, are very slowly increasing in number. I saw three together in Lake Imonia, Florida, and one a few miles from there in a marsh. I was able to approach to within a hundred feet or so of this one, and saw the beautiful plumes that have been the source of so much trouble to his race. I am told by a friend who spent the winter in Florida that even now these birds are being hunted for their feathers. Wild turkeys are said to be fairly plentiful on the Northern-owned plantations, which are all "posted land." I saw three on a plantation of seventeen thousand acres, and superb birds they were. Pied-billed grebes were common on the ponds. I had never before seen them with the black band across the bill that gives them their name; for I was familiar with them only in the fall and winter plumage. Turkey vultures are very numerous. Black vultures are more common near the coast than in the interior, but I saw a few. A mourning dove is always a treat in Massachusetts. But down South the cooing of these beautiful birds was one of the first sounds to call me from bed in the morning, and I found them numerous and very tame wherever I went. On one day I saw as many as tw^o hundred and fifty of them. Ground doves were less plentiful; they frequent lower land. 4 M o n thl y B ul I e t in Cardinals call almost incessantly, and become rather tiresome after a while. They are beautiful birds, full of life, and are found everywhere. One made a specialty of calling "Jimmie," with rising inflection. And a certain mockingbird near the house amused me greatly by imitating him; only the mocker said it in a tone of reproach, such as a mother uses to warn her erring offspring. Pine-woods sparrows became quite numerous before I came away. Their song is one of the very finest I have ever heard; it is in a class with the songs of the hermit thrush and veery, and the nightingale and the blackcap of Europe. The summer tanager is an exquisite bird. His song is sweeter and less forced than that of the scarlet tanager. At least two orchard orioles came to my house and gave their sweet warbling song for me during the last week. Loggerhead shrikes are common. They are persistent singers, but no one could really call their "song" beautiful. Tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, brown-headed nuthatches, and blue-gray gnatcatchers were all numerous. The Carolina chickadee says "dce-di-di." I was much interested in one nuthatch that drank from holes made in a pear-tree by a sapsucker; he would drink a while, turn away as though he had had enough, hesitate, then turn back for another drink: he repeated this performance many times. How like a human tippler! Gnatcatchers are cheerful little birds, talking to themselves all the time as they busily explore the trees and bushes. I did not hear any whip-poor-wills, although Southerners said I did. What I did hear was the chuck-wills-widow. The call is unmistakable. The "chuck" is given in a lower tone, like the similar "chuck" of the whip-poor-will, and is often not heard at all. There was something irresistibly funny about this call, especially when I awoke in the dead of night and heard the birds denouncing the poor "widow" that has somehow displeased them. For the first time in mv life I became acquainted with the white- eyed vireos. Their song is quite different from other vireo songs, and is not at all monotonous. My warbler list included the yellow-throated, hooded, and orange- crowned, and the Florida yellow-throat. The yellow-throated warbler is much like the black and white in habits, and except for the yellow throat looks much like him. He has a song like that of the black and white, only with a somewhat wider range between the high and low notes. Another song resembles the indigo bunting's. The Florida yellow-throat is a beautiful bird. The yellow is richer than in the Maryland yellow-throat, and covers a wider area, while the mask is larger. The hooded warbler's song is somewhat like that of the magnolia, but louder and more pronounced. I also heard him give a song like that of the redstart. The Carolina wren sings surprisingly loud for such a small bird; and he has a variety of notes. One bird that shouted through the forest like a cardinal seemed to say "dwiddle-di, dwiddle-de, dwee," the last syllable much higher than the rest. Woodpeckers of several kinds were common in the pine woods: red- bellied. Southern downy, Southern hairy, and flicker. Note that the last is slightly different from our Northern flicker, having more conspicuous black bars on the back. The red-headed woodpecker is found more fre- quently near the towns. M a s s a c h u setts A u d u b o n S o cie ty 5 There is no end to the comments that could be made on the Northern birds that I saw down South either in winter quarters or on their way to their summer homes. But a few words must suffice. First a negative observation: I was impressed by the scarcity of robins and song sparrows. These birds do not nest in Georgia, and are early migrants; presumably most of those that had spent the winter there had already gone north before I arrived in Georgia, March 11. White-throated sparrows, too, which winter there, were not at all common. I saw no catbirds, no cedar waxwings, no yellow warblers; I could make a long list of birds that are common here in May, and that one would naturallv expect to find in large numbers in Georgia. There is much room for speculation as to the reasons for the absence of these birds, and it suggests theories in regard to migration. But limitation- of space forbid any discussion here of this theme. Bob-whites were numerous; at first some thirty-five came regularly to the house to feed, but they soon scattered to the woods to begin nesting. Ruby-crowned kinglets, towhees, (which Southerners call jorees), yellow palm warblers, as well as the palm warblers, which go up through the interior of the country instead of coming to the iN'ortheast, parulas and Northern parulas were all plentiful from the first. I saw only one black and white warbler, and that was at Lake Miccosukee, in Florida. Kingbirds and crested flycatchers came early in April, and I saw one wood pewee. Blue-headed and yellow-throated vireos were common all the time I was in the South. The red-eyed vireo arrived March 30. I saw my first hummingbird March 22. Chipping sparrow, hermit thrush, pine warbler, phoebe, and field sparrow, in that order, were on my first day's list March 12. Any enthusiast can readily understand my feelings on finding these birds all around the house early that morning; as I had arrived after dark the night before, this was really the beginning of my Southern list, although I had identified many birds from the train coming across from Savannah. Then on the 13th I added, among others, purple martin, swamp and vesper sparrows, and purple grackles. I saw no bronzed grackles in the South. The prairie warbler came along on March 29, and the wood thrush the next day. The thrushes sang behind the house every morning after that. I saw only two veeries, on April 10. Chimney swifts first appeared on April 3. I saw my first tree swallows April 2, below Tallahassee; while coming down the Savannah River, April 11, on my wav home, T saw at least a thousand crossing the river into a marsh to the south, where I presume they were going to spend tile night. And so on. And now I am having them all over again. As I go out in the early morning and find vireos, warblers, flycatchers, coming in from the South, it seems like a second spring. This is true not only of the birds, but of trees, shrubs, flowers; as I write. May 16, the flowering dog- wood is at its best in the Blue Hills, and the azaleas are glorious in the Riverway and the Arboretum. These blossomed in March in Georgia. And so, twice in the same year, I have the pleasure of watching the miracle of the unfolding spring. L. R. TALBOT, 509 Audubon Road, Boston, Mass. 6 Monthly Bulletin ANNISQUAM BIRDS My Dear Mr. Packard — Now that we are watching so intently for summer residents, as well as migrants, I feel I must tell you of a very unusual and interesting experience I had with nesting birds in May, 1921. I was with my friend, Mrs. Clark, at her summer home, "High Elm," Annisquam, so called from having the highest elm in the county. The yard is about one-third of an acre. In it are a number of trees, mostly ash and elms. There are a few very old apple and pear trees, a small intensive vegetable garden, wonderful beds of hybrid tea and rambler roses, of course, a large and well-kept bird-bath. Cats are not allowed in the yard when seen. Traps have been used for English sparrows. At one corner of the house was a luxuriantly growing honeysuckle. In this cat- birds were nesting. The vine was so thick we could not see the nest from the yard, but • from the dining room window we could see the nest and brooding bird very plainly. The male came many times a day to the lower branches of a nearby tree. He would give in a low tone part of his delightful song. The female often replied very sweetly while still on the nest. Generally she would soon appear and off they flew. They seemed a most happy and loving pair. Six feet above the catbirds' home the cornice of the house projected. It was like a little shelf. It seemed to me an ideal place for a nest, for it was partly protected from wind and rain. The robin who was sitting there seemed to agree with me, for she looked most contented, always with her bright eyes towards the yard. She had evidently appointed herself a special police, for a number of times I saw her fly down from the nest and drive non-residents from the precinct. Cowbirds, bronzed grackle and purple finches were among the number. This robin had probably lived there a number of summers. She was not so nervous as many of her kin. The year before she had built directly over the screen-door of the Lodge, which was constantly banging. It did not disturb her in the least. She also was not over fond of hunting for angleworms. She much preferred to follow the farmer's son, while he was spading the garden, and would stand almost under foot, until a nice fat juicy one was tossed her way. The catbirds were equally tame. Sometimes it would seem as if we should step on them if they happened to be on the walk when we wished to use it also. Four of my paces from the corner of the house, where the catbirds and robins lived, was rather a small elm tree. In this the oriole was building. In a very, very old apple tree, another four paces, starlings were feeding their young. They were quite good-sized. I could see their heads as they were poked out for food, over the piece of tin which had been nailed on to keep them from nesting. The orioles had wished this tree for their home; they had lived there before and a piece of the nest was still hanging in the branches. But the starlings had driven them away. It seemed strange they decided upon a home-site so close to their intelligent and conquering neighbors. Four feet from the home of the starlings was the hammock, where we were sitting much of the time. In the lowest branches of an old pear, which hung almost over the awning of the hammock, a dainty yellow warbler was building. She Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 flew to the ground for some crochet cotton which we had thrown down for her at our feet. She seemed pleased at finding nesting material so convenient and was making ready to live happily among the human, as well as the bird, families; but alas: the night the nest appeared to me to be ready for the tiny white eggs there came a heavy shower. The next morning I found only a few pieces of string where the attractive home was to have been. While I stood gazing at the wreck, the tiny builder flew into the tree, gathered up the odds and ends remaining, and flew off to the next yard, and I found there much to my surprise, her second nest almost completed. The tree in which the oriole was building was near enough to the hammock for us to watch the process without using our glasses. Very quickly tlie guy-strings of the nest were made fast to the slender twigs at the extreme end of the elm branch. Then the round bottom took shape at once. The female did all the work, always from the inside, pushing out the long piece of grapevine or rootlet and then bringing it back, in doing so really making a knot. The male was usually in a tree near at hand and often sang while the female worked, but he did none of the work. He always flew off with her when she went for more material. The greater part of the building was done in the early morning, when the moss, rootlets, etc., were damp from dew and so were more pliable. When the nest was well formed and seemed to me almost ready for occupancy, I said we ought to give Mrs. Oriole something with which to decorate her most beautifully made home. So I took some narrow red ribbon, tied it with a piece of white string, and laid it on one of the bushes; and, much to our delight, she wove it so it hung from the bottom of the nest, where it was always waving in the breeze and showed at once where the nest was placed. The leaves had grown so during the building a casual observer would not see it at all. Mrs. Oriole had done so well with our first contribution we decided to give her another donation party. We wanted to make her a patriotic bird, but we could find nothing blue in the house which could be used, and there were no stores in the village. At last I found a small blue ribbon badge on which was printed "President." I had worn this in Columbus, Ohio, when I heard President Harding make his last speech before he was made President on the following day. To a bird only would I have given this badge. I tied to it a piece of red and white string. You can imagine my gi'eat delight when, upon the second morning, I saw floating from the top of the nest the blue badge, and the word "President" could be seen very plainly. Mrs. Oriole had evidently decided to use it for name plate. Of course, it at once changed her name. If we had placed the decoration ourselves we could not have done better. The work upon the home now seemed to us to be finished, and then we saw the male come and inspect the same, both inside and out, and then give his very best and completest song we were sure of it. I had to leave before the eggs were laid, but four orioles were raised. In the fall the tree had to be trimmed. The nest, still in excellent con- dition, was taken down, and now hangs in my room, and brings to my mind a most beautiful moving picture whenever I look at it. KATE DENIG TOWER. 8 M o n th I y B u I I e t i n ENGLAND'S STEP FORWARD An act for prohibiting the importation of plumage into Great Britain went into operation on April 1st of this year. Of it a special correspondent to the London "Observer" says: From the first stages of the feather-trade, its operations were com- bated by men of science and humanity. Morris and Newton were among the first in England, W. E. D. Scott, Sennett, and Dutcher in the United States. Then came the formation of the Audubon Societies of America, the Society for the Protection of Birds in England, both with the same starting-point of opposition to the killing of birds for millinery. The discontinuance of "osprey" plumes in the Army, at the instance of Lord Wolseley, came in 1889, the investigation and Ordinance in British India in 1902, the support of Queen Alexandra to the crusade in 1906. The first Plumage Bill in the English Parliament was that drafted by Mr. Montagu Sharpe ( now Sir Montagu Sharpe, K. C. ) , Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and introduced by Lord Avebury in 1908, followed by the appointment of a Select Committee. It was passed by the Lords, too late for its consideration in the Commons, where it was introduced by Lord Robert Cecil. During the next five or six years Bills were brought in by Sir William Anson, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Mr. Percy Alden, and Colonel Page-Croft. When the Government, through Mr. Hobhouse, brought in a measure in 1914 the ultimate end was in view, but the trade and the Germans together succeeded in delaying matters for yet another seven years; and it is thanks to private members and private societies that the Act is at last on the Statute-book, though it has had the support of the Board of Trade. The Act of 1921 is not so stringent and simple as the Bill of 1908, for it places no embargo on the sale of plumage, thereby laying a heavy task on the Customs ofiicers. Moreover, it is hampered by a clause, known as the "agreed" clause, which gives permission to the trade (or other persons) to appeal to an Advisory Committee set up by the Board of Trade, for the addition of birds whose plumage may be imported. The committee includes three feather-trade experts, two scientific experts, and four other persons, who may or may not, at the option of the Board, be bird protectors. There is no doubt that the trade, which, on its own statements, let the Bill through because of this clause and crowed very considerably over what il deemed its victory, expected to turn the Act upside down by its means. The Schedule to the Bill named only two birds as exceptions to the rule — the African ostrich and the eider-duck. In more or less private conclaves with scientific bodies and persons, rep- resentatives of the trade made various propositions for altering this. They proposed, for instance, to place all the birds they want on the schedule, make the Bill a permissive instead of a repressive one, and leave it to a Committee to remove those which it was necessary, or "agreed," to protect. They also presented a long list of birds "essential to the plumage trade," which they suggested might be placed on the schedule, with the naive premiss that as these had been regularly imported in large quantities they could not be rare, and therefore need not be protected. It 'has yet to be seen what additions (if any) to the schedule will be made by the Board of Trade on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee when the Act comes into force. But the trade have already M o s s a c h II s e 1 1 s A u d ii b o n S o c i e t y 9 rushed into print to crv out that things are not going as they had antici- pated; that they agreed on the supposition that only rare birds, which they do not want, and feathers obtained with cruehy (the existence of which thev deny I were really and truly to be inhibited. '"Moulted" and "farmed" feathers, they argue, should thus come in freely, together with birds of any abundant species. This would suit them nicely. And now, behold, the Committee and the legal advisers of the Board have construed the Act to mean what it says. It says nothing about "extermination" or "cruelty," or about "feathers" from this place or that. The word used is "bird," and it is birds, not selected plumages, which may be added to the schedule. The presumption is, therefore, that the egret is saved; that wild birds' plumage will now cease to come into the London market, save by smuggling; and that, when accumulated stores are exhausted, women will no longer be able to adorn themselves with "murderous millinery" otherwise than by saving up their out-of-date decorations or by personally importing the banned feathers on their hats. CHECK-LISTS In our mention of Check-Lists sent in during the past year in a recent issue, we failed to record the names of Ruth Newman Haeuber, age 13, and Walter Haeuber, age 11, of Framingham, Mass. These two interested students have recorded on their lists altogether 68 birds. In a footnote they say, "We saw the meadowlark about the third week in February, the robin on the 10th of March and the bluebird on the 14th." The use of Check-Lists among the junior bird students is increasing. They are a very convenient form for recording birds seen and are furnished free by the Society. THE PLACE TO SEE PUFFLNS Those who wish to see Puffins alive, says the State Ornithologist, may do so by spending their vacations at Perce Gaspe County, P. Q., where the Bonaventure Island-Perce Rock Bird Sanctuary is situated. In this region they may see murres, razor-billed auks. Leach's petrels, double-crested cor- morants and kittiwakes, as well as other water birds, all in their breeding plumage. Perce is easily reached by rail or motor. Hotel accommodations are good, but limited. PURPLE MARTINS The inquiry concerning purple martins, eave swallows and bank swallows made in the May Bulletin brought quite a number of replies. Mrs. T. Francis Capeles, of Haverhill, reports a colony of purple martins at Georgetown on the farm of Mr. Alfred Kimball and bank swallows in the Mt. Washington District of that town. Miss Anne E. Farrington, also of Haverhill, reports a large colony of eave swallows at Salisbury Beach and bank swallows between Salem, New Hampshire, and Methuen, Mass., not far from the Spickett River. Miss Maude A. Graves of South- ampton reports eave swallows from that town. 10 M o Tithly B III I e t i n LIFE MEMBERS RECEIVED APRIL 23, 1922, TO MAY 31, 1922 Grant, Mr. Zira R 47 Alton Place. Apt. 3, Brookline Kimball, Miss Martha G 48 Elm Street, Bradford Merriman, Mrs. Daniel 73 Bay State Road, Boston Miller, Mrs. William D Ashhurnham Norton, Miss Elizabeth G 19 Chestnut Street, Boston SUSTAINING MEMBERS RECEIVED APRIL 23, 1922, TO MAY 31, 1922 Alden, Miss Clara L 40 May Street, Worcester Allen, Mrs. R. C 10 Metcalfe Street, Worcester Atwood, Mrs. W. W 160 Woodland Street, Worcester Barney, Miss Caroline C 21 Baltimore Street, Lynn Bath, Mrs. John 70 Uxbridge Street, Worcester Bent, Mrs. Arnold A 30 W. Broadway, Gardner Bigelow, George A E. London Street, Worcester Blanchard. Miss Lillias 2 Walnut Street Boston Bradley, John E 7 Militaiy Road, Worcester Browning. Mrs. Henry 985 Pleasant Street, Worcester Bryant, Mrs. Anna W 22 Cross Street, Gardner Bullock, A. G 48 Elm Sttreet, Worcester Burgess, Mrs. George S 45 Everett Street, Newton Center Clarke, Miss Harriet E 9 Chestnut Street, Worcester Cowee, Mrs. H. W 27 Somerset Street, Worcester Crouch, Elmer 27 Cherry Street, Gardner Day, Miss Emily A 38 Browning Road, Somerville Dewey, Mrs. Charles R 30 Cross Street, Gardner Dolan, Dorothy W 32 Myrtle Terrace, Winchester Dunbar, Mrs. William H 64 Highland Street, Cambridge Dunbar, Mr. William H 64 Highland Street, Cambridge Emery, Miss Amy E 24 Haviland Street. Boston Esters, Mrs. Fred H 147 Park Street, Gardner Ferris, Miss Ida J Hotel Vendome. Boston Fletcher, Mrs. Herbert West ford Frothingham, Mrs. Randolph 113 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston Gates, W. H 45 Hollywood Street, Worcester Grabaw, Miss Josephine 5 Waban Street, Wellesley Hanson, Mrs. G. Willis 38 Bowers Street, Newtonville Hendrick, Miss Cynthia A 30 Cross Street, Gardner Higgins, Carter C 80 William Street Worcester Hobbs, Mrs. Samuel T 216 Park Avenue. Worcester Holden, Miss Carrie J 39 Witherbee Street, Marlboro Homes, Miss Agnes G 902 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain Hudson, Mrs. Laura Carver Jack, Frederick L 215 Beacon Street, Boston Jackson, Catharine 489 Boylston Street, Brookline Jacoby, Mrs. Douglas 106 Truro Street, Newport, R. L Johnson, Mrs. Charles W 33 Beeching Street, Worcester Johnson, Reginald W 60 State Street, Boston Jones, William A 40 Central Street, Boston Kendall, Ernest L 80 South i\Iain Street. Gardner Kimball, Miss Grace H 181 Main Street Bradford Kimball, William 8 Congress Street. Boston King, Tarrant P 253 Adams Street, Milton King. N. B 253 Adams Street, Milton Le Clear, Mrs. Gilford 86 Upland Road, Waban Leland, Mrs. Lester 101 Milk Street, Boston Loring, Mrs. Amelia S 176 Ashland Street, Melrose Highlands Loring, Miss Elizabeth 176 Ashland Street, Melrose Highlands Lothrop, Miss Clara V 42 Peterboro Street, Boston, Suite 42 Lothrop, Heni-y 42 Peterboro Street, Boston, Suite 42 Massachusetts Audubon Society 11 Loud, Miss Marjorie Alice 19 Smith Avenue, Methuen Mann, Miss IMaria F Norfolk Marble, Mrs. Edwin H 42 Tirrell Street, Worcester Mason, Charles E 30 State Street, Boston Mason, Mrs. George L North Orange Michie, H. Stuart 10 Militaiy Road, Worcester Miles, Mrs. Charles H 35 Merriam Street, Lexington Morey, Mrs. Eleanor N 140 Sargent Street, Newton Morgan, Mrs. Ralph L 96 William Street, Worcester Morse, Miss Frances C 57 Ciiatham Street, Worcester Molley. George S 61 Nesmith Street, Lowell Nye, Mrs. Amy E. T Randolph Perry, Master Lewis F 96 Harvard Avenue, Brookline Pierce, Franklin K 'I'he Vendome, Boston Pinkerton, ^Irs. A. S 9 Windsor Street, Worcester Pond, Mrs. Charles F Smithville Road, Spencer Pratt, Miss Louise B Ivast Main Street, Middleboro Rand, Miss M. L 73 Tremont Street, Boston Sawyer, Mrs. W. H., Jr 20 Harvard Street, Worcester Sleeper, Mrs. Frank H 121 Forest Street, Worcester Smith, Mrs. John Edwin 91 Summer Street, Newton Centre Smith, William H 30 Union Avenue, Framingham Truchon, Miss Nellie 1 159 Chandler Street, Worcester Tucker, Mrs. George Fox Middleboro Tupper, Mr. Frank 39 Richmond Avenue, Worcester / ' Whiting, Mrs. Chester A 75 Pearl Street, Gardner Wilcox, Miss Maiy E Lyman School, Westboro Withrow, Miss Minnie Annie High Ridge Road, Worcester Woodbury, Mrs. C. H 105 Upham Street, Melrose \^'ragg, Mrs. Charlotte K 36 Kilsyth Road, Brookline DISCRIMINATING FLICKERS The two flickers that have raised broods here for three years have returned and they showed intelligence in picking their box. Last year they sampled a number of boxes before they made their choice. And even then the setting flicker wandered from the box with her nest to another box, where she spent odd moments. She evidently preferred the second choice, because on arrival this year she took possession of the second box without paying any attention to the other boxes. GEORGE F. BROWN, Dedham. BIRD COMRADES (From the Brockton Enterprise) Here's a true bird story that is vouched for by a Glenwood avenue family. Seven years ago they first noticed that a robin and a blackbird shared a nest near their home, their attention being drawn to the unusual companionship from the fact that the blackbird had only one leg. Every spring since then the two have journeyed back from a winter stay in the southland, the blackbird spry despite its infirmity and robin redbreast growing a bit gray in service. This year they are again at their old haunts. One theory as to the odd friendship between the birds is that blackbird may have met with the mishap that cost it one foot when a fledgling and been given a refuge and adopted and brought up by the robin. Has any Enterprise reader ever known of an instance to match it? Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Page Colored Plates by Louis As:assi% Fuertes, Bruce Horsfall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawings and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, $4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. OUR BIRD FRIENDS An Educational Game for Home and School Indorsed by the leading Educators, Ornithologists, Scout and Camp Fire Leaders, and Librarians. Fifty-two of our common birds of the summer and winter iUustrated and described. Price 50 cents SARAH H. DUDLEY Berlin, Mass. NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT UP THE Packard Bird -Houses 50 CENTS - - WHY PAY MORE Used, approved and formally endorsed by the Massachusetts Audubon Society for the Protect- ion of Birds. Featherweight, durable, ventilated, unobtrusive, easily cleaned, easily put up — and the birds love them. Chickadee size for chicka- dees, wrens, etc. Bluebird size, for bluebirds, tree swallows, downy woodpeckers, etc. Three for $1.25 in advance, mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elswhere add postage. Flicker size; 75 cents each ; two for $1.25 in advance. Mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elsewhere add postage. Address: WINTHROP PACKARD, Canton, Mass. Volume VI. OCTOBER, 1922 Number 6 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 Massachusetts Audubon Society ' THE SHARON SANCTUARY A recent achievement to which the Audobon Society points with pride is the acquisition and firm establishment of the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary at Sharon. For a number of years, through the courtesy of Dr. George W. Field, the Society made use of his large estate as a sanctuary. Many members will recall with pleasure the beauties of the region and the many courtesies of the Field family during our occupancy of the estate. Through changes in the plans of the owner, it became necessary for the Society to seek new headquarters and it was peculiarly fortunate in being able to purchase the Briggs estate next door. The house has been thoroughly renovated, and a large audience room which was especially adapted to the purpose has been fitted up as a Museum. There Super- intendent Higbee has displayed his collections of mounted birds, eggs, moths and butterflies and other items of natural history which are at once interesting and instructive. There, also, the Society shows much useful bird-protection material — charts, books, pamphlets, and such mat- ters pertaining to its work. So interested is the general public in the work and the place that between May 1st and September 1st about 3,000 people visited it. The membership of the Society and friends of the work have been most loyal,, not only in their approval but in their financial support of this venture of the Society. The immediate purchase money was taken from the Reserve Fund of the Society. Since then the Treasurer has been busily engaged in an attempt to raise the $10,000 necessary to replace the amount taken from the Reserve Fund and pay for the repairs and improvements necessary. Four-fifths of this required sum has already been subscribed in actual cash, and the Treasurer wishes to express his earnest thanks to all those who have so generously helped. One more reminder will be sent out to those members of the Society who have not so far participated in this Fund. The Directors earnestly hope that all members of the Society will be represented in this subscription in some sum, however small. The money, of course, is greatly needed and will be greatly appreciated, but of even more value than this is the recognition of this great work thus expressed by the large membership of the Society. THE AUDUBON CALENDAR By courtesy of the National Association of Audubon Societies the Audubon Calendar for 1923 — now ready — reproduces the following six birds in color: Brown Creeper, Crackles, Maryland Yellowthroat, Redstart, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Raven. These from paintings by Allan Brooks, Bruce HorsfaL. and E. J. Sawyer are very faithful reproductions, with exquisite backgrou?>ds by these well-known painters of bird life. There are six calendar pages, with a picture for every two months, the descrip- tions being by T. Gilbert Pearson, size lli<^x7, neatly tied with gray cord for hanging. Price, $1.00 each; supply limited; shall we book your order now? Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 MASS. AUDUBON SOCIETY ACTIVITIES Audubon Charts Throughout the summer the interest expressed in the Audubon Bird Charts has been very gratifying. Orders for them have come from schools, camps, teachers, superintendents and individual bird students throughout the country. So great has been this interest that a reprinting of the No. 2 Chart has become necessary and is now under way. The stock of charts will be' ample for all orders which may come up to the time when the new printing will be in hand. The Rev. Arthur C. Wilson, who has been lecturing on birds in the Chautauqua circuit this summer, has used these charts constantly with very gratifying success. The Summer's Work This has been an unusually busy summer at the headquarters of the Society. 66 Newbury Street. Much interest has been expressed in the work by visitors from distant points who take the opportunity to get acquainted with us during the summer months. Bird-lovers and sight- seers have been welcome and have gone away impressed with the im- portance and variety of the work undertaken. Many members and new friends have thus been made. During the week when the National Edu- cation Association occupied the city, the Audubon Society participated in the exhibition of educational work made at Horticultural Hall. The educators expressed great interest in this exhibit, and the Society received many words of praise for its beauty and value. Through the courtesy of Miss Helen Winslow at Shirley, Mass., the Secretary was invited to participate in the forum held there, and laid before an audience of house- holders and summer visitors the needs of bird protection and the work done for it by the National Association of Audubon Societies and the Massachusetts Society. Through the courtesy of Esther M. Baxendale of Cataumet, two lectures under the auspices of the Audubon Society were given in the grove on the beautiful grounds of Amrita Island in the Baxen- dale Memorial Summer Course. The first was by the Rev. Arthur C. Wilson, the second bv Mr. Charles C. Gorst. Larse audiences of residents and cottagers greeted both lecturers, and the thanks of the Audubon Society are due both for their good work for the cause. Later in the season Mr. Edward Avis dropped in for a week-end call on the Secretary at Cataumet, and the spacious summer cottage of Mr. J. M. Linscott was offered for the occasion and crowded by a brilliant audience which listened for an hour, fascinated by Mr. Avis's bird whistling and violin music. In this case as in the others, bird protection needs and the work of the Audubon Societies were entertainingly and instructively set forth. These items are in addition to the routine work of the Society, which has been persistently carried on. Check-lists The check-lists which the Society gives free to interested students have been freely used this summer, and many have come back to us well filled. Among the interesting reports is one by Gerald Thayer, Dorothy Dean and Girl Scout Campers who between June 10th and 24th listed 72 birds at tliQ Scout Camp, Briarcliff, N. Y. As this list contains no sea-birds or shore-birds, it will be seen that the enthusiastic scouts and their able leaders must most thoroughly have combed the woods for birds. 4 Massachusetts Audubon Society A special find over which the leaders were especially jubilant was a Lawrence's warbler's nest. Miss Dean also reports, "We got into a massed formation of worm-eating warblers." Through Miss Elsie V. Robbins. the Driscoll School Class of 1922, Brookline, Mass., Grade 6, reports 75 birds seen. This is splendid work for a Junior Class and is greatly to be commended. An interesting list is from Rav Gordon, of 600 St. Paul St., Denver, Colorado, who noted 28 birds in that vicinity. Perhaps the quickest work was done by Mr. Reddington Fiske, of Needham, whose varied activities and business cares cannot prevent him from keeping an eye out for the birds which he so much enjoys. In the space of two hours on the shores of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, within two miles of the hotel, which is in the centre of the town of Neenah, Mr. Fiske noted a total of 39 birds. These varied from bluebird and goldfinch to red-winged blackbird, yellow-headed blackbird, herring gull, upland plover and blue heron. Cloth Posters Cloth posters, warning against hunting and trespassing, as furnished by the Audubon Society for many years, are already in demand. The Society has a large stock of these posters and will gladly supply six free to members or friends of the^ birds who wish to use them to post their land. In larger quantities these posters are sold at cost — 5c each. They will be mailed on request to any one asking for them. Feed the Birds The time for looking out for winter birds is at hand. It is a good plan to establish your feeding stations early and thus assure the new arrivals of friendly hospitality. Feeders and bird food may be ordered through the Society and will be mailed to any address on receipt of price. Now is a good time to plan for the winter's work. A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DUCKS Dr., John C. Phillips is bringing out this autumn through Houghton Mifflin Company the first volume of a monumental work on the ducks of the world, which will be issued in four volumes under the title of "A Natural History of the Ducks." Dr. Phillips is well known as an authority in this field and has enjoyed an intimate experience with most of the American and European ducks besides having a thorough acquaintance with the literature. The book is written from the point of view of the bird-lover, as well as from that of the ornithologist, and, besides giving full descriptions and other scientific data, it contains very complete and interesting life-histories of the species. It is illustrated with many beau- tiful plates — most of them in color — by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Allan Brooks, and has a frontispiece from a painting made especially for the book by Frank W. Benson, whose drawings and etchings of water-fowl are famous both in this country and abroad. Under the title of ''Some Little Known Songs of Common Birds," Mr. Francis H. Allen contributed to the magazine "Natural History," issued by the American Museum of New York, the summer issue, a most readable as well as scholarly article. Mr. Allen, who has been all his life a close student of birds and especially of bird-songs, takes up in the Monthly Bulletin 5 main normal songs of some of our common birds which for one reason or another seem to have escaped mention in most of the popular hand- books. From the article one learns what a fascinating side of bird study this is and how wonderfully varied and interesting these songs are. This article should be intereslhig to the casual reader as well as the bird student. It is to be found in Volume 22, pages 235-242, 1922. It can be found at the office of the Audubon Society, BIRD BANDING Since ""Bird Banding" has taken a recognized place in the study of birds, many people are asking what can be learned through this medium. A table is given below showing the record of a song sparrow trapped and banded at Cohasset, Mass., by Mr. L. B. Fletcher. The record of this bird perhaps does not answer the questions but rather asks more. At the same time, such records as these will help solve the number of questions after sufficient people are banding. No. 11006, Song Sparrow, Banded May Repeats 1921 Return 1922 Repeats 1922 28, 1921, 8:15 P.M. May 31, 12:00 Noon June 5, 7:00 P.M. June 6, 11:00 A.M. June 7, 4:00 P.M. June 16, 4:00 P.M. May 13, 3:00 P.M. May 16, 11:30 A.M. May 16, 4:00 P.M. July 5, 5:00 P.M. July 13, 8:00 A.M. July 22, 2:00 P.M. July 26, 11:00 A.M. July 29, 8:00 A.M. Aug. 10, 3:00 P.M. What became of No. 11006 after June 16, 1921, and where did he go on May 16, 1922, after he had returned three days previously? What wasi he doing in the period from May 16 to July 5? At present these questions are puzzling, but with persistent work, such problems will ultimately be solved. Why did the sparrow leave a good feeding-place on May 16? Why was it absent for nearly two months? Where was it during its absence and why did it return on July 5? On June 17th Messrs. Floyd, MacKaye and Fletcher banded 104 black- crowned night herons at West Barnstable. These were all young birds just ready to leave the nest. On Aug. 4th, one of them was found dead on the beach at Kennebunkport, Maine, showing that after it had left the nest t wandered north over a hundred miles. On Aug. 29th, one of the banded birds was found dead at Fryeburg, Maine, having been killed by running into telegraph-wires, and on Sept. 4th, a third was picked up on the beach at Beach Bluff, Mass. Why did these birds wander north instead of south, and how much farther would they have wandered if they had not been killed? The Biological Survey has notified the Secretary of the New England Bird Banding Association that a bountiful supply of bands are now being manufactured and all requests for the same will be filled promptly within a few days. Charles B. Floyd 6 Massachusetts Audubon Society RANDOM NOTES A nest of a phoebe was found in a quarry about fifteen feet from the point where blasting was going on daily. Yet the bird continued nesting, brought out her first brood, relined the nest, and later sat on five eggs of the second brood. The workmen carefully put a board in front of the nest just before they fire a blast, Prairie horned larks sometimes nest in plowed fields. One of these birds was seen in great distress, when harrowing was going on. The farmer investigated and found that a clod of earth had been turned over the nest by the harrow. The bird was putting its shoulder against the clod and pushing with all its little might to move that clod. The farmer marked the spot and guarded the nest carefully. An observer has been investigating complaints of birds eating straw- berries. He finds chipmunks more destructive than birds. Among the culprits are crickets, field mice, a fox and a "wood turtle." This gentle- man also writes that his tame crow is likely to get him into trouble. The bird hid a decayed fish head on the seat of a buggy, so that a neighbor sat on it all the way to town before he found it. In this case the victim blamed the boys! Two odd robins' nests have been reported; one about eighteen inches high, the other ordinary, except that the string of a shipping-tag was very neatly woven into it, with the tag hanging from the string, and inside were two layers of dried grass, with three eggs beneath the upper layer and above it four more eggs. In a wood thrush's nest was incorporated a slip of paper in position, in which was printed "Use M,....'s Food for the Babies." A young lady saw a young downy spotted sandpiper with three adult sandpipers fussing about. She assumed that these were mother, grandmother and great-grandmother — assumption unwarranted. Three much-reported swans were killed recently near Plymouth, Mass. As anticipated, they were escaped European mute swans. A bird recently reported from Essex County, Mass., resembled the gull-billed tern. Two marbled godwits were taken August 19 on the coast of Virginia; a godwit was caught alive August 29 at Yarmouthport, and brought to this office; an enormous flock of Wilson's petrels on August 3 was off the Long Island coast — "thousands and thousands, like a low black cloud about a mile in length"; and on the same day a horned grebe in full plumage was seen. Regarding the one-legged sandpipers reported recently, two observers send in a plausible explanation. One reports an entire flock of semi- palmated sandpipers hopping about, each on its one leg. While the ob- servers were regarding this pitiful sight with great commiseration, every last one of the "little frauds" put down its other leg. which had been concealed in the feathers, and ran like a sprinter. The other observer gives an almost identical occurrence. E. H. FORBUSH, State Ornithologist. GIFTS. Mr. George C. Warren, recently returned from a trip around the world, collected while in Hawaii some rare and valuable pamphlets on the Hawaiian Feather Work. These are fully illustrated and of much interest. Mr. War- ren has had them bound and presents them to the Reference Library of the Society. Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 On the trip Mr. Warren had the pleasure of meeting Mr .H, L. White the distinguished ornithologist of "Belltrees" Scone, New South Wales, Aus- tralia, and through him received an introduction to Australian birds. He joins with Mr. White in presenting to tiie Society copies of the "EMU" the Official Organ of the Ornithologists Union and of the Australian Museum Magazine. These pamphlets also have been neatly bound in green buckram and are presented to the Society which hereby expresses its great apprecia- tion of these gifts. TWO RARE NESTS FOR WORCESTER COUNTY On May 15th, Mr. J. W. Barney told me of the discovery, by Mr. Francis Choate, of a pileated woodpecker's nest on the estate of Charles F. Choate, Jr., Esq., in Petersham. Two days later, with a party of friends who were interested in birds, we made the journey; to Petersham to see the nest and the bird. On the way from the old farmhouse to the nesting- site; we found several trees which showed the results of the work of the great woodpecker. Where the work was recent we found chips from the white pine which were unbelievably large. In some cases the wood had grown in around the holes, showing that the birds had been at work in the vicinity for some years. The nest was in a great elm, beside an ancient! but now practically disused highway. A small stone thrown against the dead limb in which the nest was excavated flushed the male bird from the nest. He flew from one tree to another, giving us a very good opportunity to observe all the markings and uttering his loud cry of alarm, but in a very few minutes he flew back to the nest. He stopped a moment before the entrance and gave us a wonderful chance to observe him closely before he settled down again in the nest. Our friends visited the nest a few days later and saw both the male and female birds. Mr. Francis Choate has since reported the discovery of a second occupied nest on the same estate. On May 27th, Mr. Thomas Lindsay summoned us by telephone to see the nest and eggs of a killdeer plover in his pasture in Southborough. The nest, which was exactly in the center of a rock which jutted up in the middle of an old cart-path through the pasture, contained four eggs. Later we saw the old bird with three of the young ones. Mr. Lindsay has seen the killdeer on his estate for the past three or four years, but has not succeeded in locating the nest until this season. R. F. C. WORLD-WIDE BIRD PROTECTION International Committee Formed in London New York, July 8. — LInder the leadership of America, the world is waking u}]| to the necessity of protecting its wild birds. Representatives of organizations in various countries met in London on June 20 and formed an International Committee for carrying forward propaganda throughout the world on the subject of the protection of wild birds. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, New York, heads this Committee, the membership of which in- cludes Viscount Grey of Fallodon, England; Mijnheer P. G. Van Tien- hoven of Holland, Monsieur Delacour of France, and other equally well known bird-lovers. 8 Massachusetts Audubon Society The Committee will at once take up the subject of extending the organization through southern France and Italy, where enormous numbers of songbirds are annually killed for food and where no adequate restrictive legislation now exists. Bills pending in Parliament and in the United States Congress to prohibit the pouring of crude oil in territorial waters will be given sup- port, and similar measures will be sought in other countries with a view of ultimately getting international action to stop this nuisance, which is responsible for the killing of millions of birds annually whose feathers become soaked in this oil that is poured on their feeding grounds. Mr. Pearson, who has returned from studying bird protective matters in France, Holland and England reports that the general subject of bird protection in those countries is not handled in the highly efficient manner that obtains in so many of our States. "For example," he said, "there are no game wardens employed by Provincial or National Governments in any of these countries. Practically the only protection wild birds have ever been afforded is on hunting estates, and here the attention of the privately employed gamekeepers is devoted almost entirely to game-birds that are raised for shooting purposes." Mr. Pearson speaks of his disappointment in finding storks so scarce in Holland. "Round platforms on poles are erected all over the country," he said, "for the accommodation of these birds, but the last two years storks have almost entirely disappeared, and throughout northern Holland I found only one pair? nesting. It is reported that the birds have been killed by eating grasshoppers poisoned by farmers in the Transvaal, Africa." LIFE MEMBERS RECEIVED JUNE 1, 1922 TO SEPT. 14, 1922 Bristol, Bennet B Foxboro Bristol, Mrs. Gertrude R Foxboro Randall, Miss Amanda L R. F. U. No. 5, Dover, N. H. Rowe, Elgen J Soutliboro Rowe, Mrs. Ruth Southboro Sears, Mrs. George G 426 Beacon St, Boston Shaw, Paul A Boulder Farm, Newton Centre Smith, Miss Fannie Allen R. F. D. No. 1, Laconia, N. H. Stone, Miss Esther A Ayer Woolsey, John M., Jr 131 E. 66th St., New York City SUSTAINING MEMBERS RECEIVED JUNE 1, 1922 TO SEPT. 14, 1922 Atwood, Mrs. I. F 60 E. Emerson St., Melrose Burgess, George S 45 Everett St., Newton Centre Cook, Miss Florence M State St., Framingham Centre Clark, Mrs. John D Abington Dawse, Mrs. W. B. H West Newton Dawse, W. B. H West Newton Denby, Francis J New Bedford Densmore, Mrs. J. M 25 Pelham St., Newton Centre Dillaway, Mrs. Helen Gore 25 Endicott St., Newton Highlands Dugan, Mrs. M. J 4 Kaliler Ave., Milton Ellis, Mrs. Eleanor L 25 Rockdale St., Boston Fenno, J. Brooks 87 Milk St., Boston Foye, L. Curtis Stafford Springs. Conn. Fravies, Miss Dorothy S Lunenburg Graton, Bowman 182 Brattle St., Cambridge Graton, Josephine G 182 Brattle St., Cambridge Hayward, Miss Marjorie 104 School St., Belmont Howes, Frank H 4 Liberty Sq., Boston Johnson, C. Bishop Mount Hermon Johnson, Miss Julia G 83 Park St., Brookline Lacey, Neil F Sharon Massachusetts Audubon Society Lawson, Mrs. Frederck W 147 Stetson St., Fall River Lawton, Miss Charlotte D 121 St. Stephens St., Boston Lee, Miss Charlotte E 1240 Beacon St., Brookline Lincoln, Albert L 126 State St., Boston McCurdy, Miss A. H 223 Savin Hill Ave., Dorchester McNaught, Wallace M 186 Harvard St., Dorchester Centre MacNight, Dodge East Sandwich MacKnight, John P 42 Oxford Park, Revere Mann, Mrs. Horace Richmond Monroe, Mrs. A. B 2 Pierce St., Middleboro Ogg, Mrs. William A 85 Mountvale Rd., Newton Centre Oliver, Mrs. Wm. T Glendale Road, Sharon Oliver, William T Glendale Road, Sharon Orne, Mrs. Edna E 52 Rockland St., Melrose Higlilands Osgood, Robert Salem Paul, Miss H. D .310 Commonwealth Ave., Boston Pendleton, Miss Dorothy 1 91 Emerson St., Haverhill Potter, Arthur H 1039 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge Potter, Miss Ina S 1039 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge Pratt, Waldo E Wellesley Hills Ranlett, Miss S. Alice 114 Newbury St., Boston Reed, Miss Georgietta A. 203 West Elm St., Brockton Reed, Mrs. George M 256 Ashmont St., Dorchester Reed, William W 57 Merriam St., Lexington Remick, Mrs. Mary H 34 Exeter St., W. Newton Revere, Miss Anna P Canton Revere, E. W. R Canton Revere, Miss Margaret A Canton Revere, William B Canton Reynolds, Mrs. W. H 120 Hollis Ave.. Braintree Richardson, Mrs. W. A 2600 Warring St.. Berkeley, Calif. Robbins, Miss E. V 2 Auburn Court. Brookline Robinson, Edwin P 12 High St., Newport, R. L Roys, Mrs. Mary C 49 Massasoit St., Northampton Sampson. Mrs. Walter 28 School St., Middleboro Savage, Mrs. C. H 24 Arch St., Framingham Scott, Miss Katherine 14 Sheridan St., Lawrence Sibley, Miss Alice M 16 Rockland St., Roxbury Sigsbee, Mrs. Eliza R Shandaken, N. Y. Simpson, Mrs. J. E 26 Chestnut St., Salem Sprague. Miss Edith A Marshfield Smith, Miss Harriet S 140 Academy Road, North Andover Stark, Thomas P Kennedy Block, Hyde Park Stevens, Miss Anne 72 Trapelo Rd.. Belmont Stoyle, Lewis E 72 Taylor St., Wollaston Strong, Mrs. C. P 21 Chauncy St., Cambridge Taylor, Miss Mary K 726 Commonwealth Ave., Boston Thayer, Charles 1 177 State St., Boston Thayer, Mrs. Charles S 64 Gillett St.. Hartford, Conn. Tvler, Miss E. W .39 Gray Cliff Rd., Newton Centre Wadsworth. Franklin Pacific Grove, California Walker, Mrs. D. A 105 Hancock St., Auburndale Waterhouse, Mrs. M. Tsal)el 122 Newbury St., Boston Watson, Frank E .32 Park St., Haverhill Wetherell, Miss Clara J 20 Linwood St., Brockton Whipple, M. E 18 Oread St., Worcester Whitney, Miss Ellen F Concord Wilder, Miss A. Frances 48 Malvern St., Melrose Williams, Mrs. Arthur S 41 Hyde St., Newton Highlands Williams, Miss Susan 63 Perrin St., Roxbury Willis, Mrs. Gladys W Framingham Winchester Girl Scouts Troop No. 2 31 Chuixh St., Winchester Wright, Herbert Carleton Rayswater, Plymouth Yardley. Mrs. Farnham Llewellyn Park, West Orange, N. J Young, Mrs. C. S 52 Ashton Ave., Newton Centre Young, Miss Isabel 71 Lake Ave., Newton Centre 10 Massachusetts Audubon Society THE BUFFALO BIRD By a Member of the Audubon Society In August at the Hotel Chateau, Lake Louise, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, I was much interested in the peculiar behavior of a small bird about the size of a bobolink of a dark brownish-gray color, with huffy edges to the feathers of the back. He had absolutely no fear of mankind. Instead of flying or running away as I approached he would trot calmly to meet me, only pausing when he was at a distance of a yard to look up at mel inquisitively, and turn his head from side to side to examine me critically with either eye. The children soon discovered that he was begging for horseflies, which were abundant on the path he frequented at the border of the Lake. If I caught one he would take it from my fingers, or if I laid a dead fly in the palm of my hand, he would alight on the thumb and calmly eat it, stopping afterwards to preen his feathers. He would perch on the arm, shoulders or head of any one if enticed by a dead fly, and he was in no hurry to move off. As may be imagined he became the object of interest of many of the hotel guests and was often the centre of a throng of people. If you wanted the bird to come to you, you had only to slap yourself, when he would at once leave the other people and run up to see if you had suc- ceeded in catching a fly for him. A newly arrived guest, a young lady, was so surprised that she screamed when he peeked a live fly from her foot just above her shoe. He was always solitary, and it was said that he had only been seen for two weeks. On one occasion I had been sitting down catching flies and watching at the same time a group of people feeding the bird. They all disappeared in the woods. I arose and slowly advanced in the direction thev had taken, holding the flies in my open hand; the bird flew directlv from a tree onto my hand when I was still a hundred and fifty yards away from the place where the birds had espied me. What keen vision to have seen dead flies from so far! Another time he took a long flight straight at the face of a man walking along the path. When within a few feet of his eyes the man involuntarily threw up his hands for protection. A fly on his face was probably the source of attraction. No one seemed to know what sort of a bird this was. One called it a bufl'alo-bird. In the days when vast herds of bison were still roving the plains, buffalo-birds were said to live among them, perching on their backs and flanks and devouring flies, and following the herd wherever it wandered. Can som.e one sav whether the cowbird and the buffalo-bird are one and ihe same bird? This bird looked like a young cowbird but the legs (tarsi) appeared unusually long. At Banff, twenty miles east of Lake Louise, there is a herd of buffaloes. One day the bird followed an automobile going from Lake Louise to Banff; but he returned and at last accounts is still at the Lake. Covvbirds arc, or at least were formerly, called buffalo-birds in the West. The bird our correspondent saw at Lake Louise' was undoubtedly a cowbird in the immature plumage. — Editor. Massachusetts Audubon Society 11 BIRDS AND INSECTS LONG AGO In "The Seasons," by J. Thomson, under "Spring," edition of lo05, page 7, I find the following: "To check this plague, the skillful farmer chaff, And blazing straw, before his orchard burns, Till, all involved — smoke, the latent foe From every cranny suffocated falls: Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe: Or, when the envenomed leaf begins to curl, With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest; Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill. The little trooping birds unwisely scaresT This poem was written about 1728. and reference is made to the farmer's recognition of the value of birds as insect destroyers. Have you any earlier reference of this sort? J. C. Phillips. THE KEEPER AND THE KESTRELS Under the heading of "The Unsentimental Keeper" the following account of Kestrels acting the part of foster-parents is contributed to the London Morning Post (March 18th, 1922). The Kestrel is the English equivalent of our sparrow hawk. The bird feeds largely on field mice and similar small vermin, though it very likely destroys young pheasants. The story would seem to prove that the Kestrels are rather better examples of nobility and kindness than the game keeper. "A keeper has- been telling me this strange story of a hawk adventure last June: — "In a squirrel's old 'drey,' five or six years old, he discovered four very young kestrels. He went into ambush and shot the female parent, and the following night shot the male. To determine whether the young would be fed by other adults which he might also destroy, he left them to their fate. On the third night, when again lying in wait, sure enough a male kestrel flashed into the nest with food for the orphans, and in turn fell to this keeper's merciless gun. And then he saw, to his amazement, what he describes as 'a reg'lar shoal of hawks;' that is to say, four or five were in the air above the nest-tree, but out of range. One or more of this 'shoal' must have taken compassion on the orphans. A week later the young were still flourishing. He found them perched on a branch running from the nest. As he watched yet another male kestrel came in with food. The young were eagerly fluttering on the branch, squealing a greeting, like puppies, or small pigs, when he shot their latest foster- parent. That night the young kestrels shifted their quarters, and were not seen again for a fortnight, when they were discovered in a sparrow-hawk's ruined nest. For the fourth time the keeper shot a full-grown male kestrel as he came in to succour the orphans. He believes that at least one of the four voung ones survived all jierils of infancy. His explanation of the mysterious affair is that the male birds who attended these much-bereaved youngsters had themselves been deprived of their mates by other keepers in other distant preserves, and were roaming the countryside to seek new brides. Finding the orphans, family instinct prompted them to take charge, an act of natural love requited by the keeper's gun." Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Page Colored Plates by Louis Agassi% Fuertes, Bruce Horsfall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawings and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, $4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. OUR BIRD FRIENDS An Educational Game for Home and School Indorsed by the leading Educators, Ornithologists, Scout and Camp Fire Leaders, and Librarians. Fifty-two of our common birds of the summer and winter illustrated and described. Price 50 cents SARAH H. DUDLEY Berlin, Mass. NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT UP THE Packard Bird -Houses 50 CENTS WHY PAY MORE Used, approved and formally endorsed by the Massachusetts Audubon Society for the Protect- ion of Birds. Featherweight, durable, ventilated, unobtrusive, easily cleaned, easily put up — and the birds love them. Chickadee size for chicka- dees, wrens, etc. Bluebird size, for bluebirds, tree swallows, downy woodpeckers, etc. Three for $1.25 in advance, mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elswhere add postage. Flicker size; 75 cents each; two for $1.25 in advance. Mailed to any address in New England, postpaid. Elsewhere add postage. Address: WINTHROP PACKARD, Canton, Mass. SvoluME VI. . P40VEMBEK, 1922 Number 7 j— fj H i ff% i Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. BULLETIN OF THE J MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. 2 M o nthly B ulletin CALENDARS The Audubon Society's Calendar for 1923 is now on sale at the office. It will be mailed to any address on receipt of the price, $1.00. This calen- dar is quite the prettiest one that the Society has yet put out. Many people are ordering a dozen or more copies, appreciating their value as Christmas tokens to people interested in birds. The edition is limited, and to avoid disappointment the orders should be placed early. RENEWED ACTIVITIES The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association is starting the season's campaign with renewed vigor. It is sending a special edition of its Bulletin to several thousand people, members and others, six pages of very interesting and pertinent matter. Its new Secretary, Mr. Arthur L. Clark, is actively engaged in putting the needs and the purposes of the Association before the general public. Assistant Editor Harold C. Palmer presents in the Bulletin a very interesting and instructive article on the history of the Association, and the Bulletin contains much other material of great interest to sportsmen and conservationists. Among other things, the Bulletin shows four types of posters which members may receive for the posting of their land. The Association is also fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Arthur Parker, a staunch conservationist who has been for some time in that work, in the employ of the State. The Association is to be congratulated upon the vigor and the effectiveness of these renewed activities. MIGRATION TABLE A valuable time-table of the birds about Boston, giving especially their movements in migration, has been compiled by Winthrop Sprague Brooks, of the Boston Society of Natural History. It is on one broad sheet and makes a convenient and useful poster for a class-room or the wall of a bird-lover's den. These time-tables are on sale at the office of the Audubon Society at ten cents each. NATURE'S TRAIL The Rev. Manly B. Townsend, formerly Secretary of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, now pleasantly located in a pastorate at Med- field, Mass., is just back from his summer's vacation in the Maine woods. where he reports a wonderful time, studying the boreal birds and other wild- life forms of the wildest part of the State. Mr. Townsend will lecture con- cerning his experiences in the Boston Public Library Course this winter. BIRD LECTURERS The Audubon Society is in close touch with the movements of the Bird Lecturers, — Wilson, Gorst, Townsend, Avis, Finley and others. It is alv/ays glad to give information concerning opportunities for engaging the services of these men who are doing so much to forward the cause of bird-protection. M a s s a c h u s e 1 1 s Audubon Society 3 CHRISTMAS IS COMING The value of the Audubon Bird Charts, Calendars, bird books and other bird-protection material noted in the price-list included in this issue of the Bulletin should appeal to all members. Many of the things obtainable here are not to be had elsewhere and form unique and valuable Christmas Gifts. The money received from their sale goes directly into the work of bird-protection which the Society is carrying on with its utmost vigor through- out the State. Much material bought of us is mailed postpaid from the office and thus the purchaser is saved expense and trouble. A SONG SPARROW GUEST Those of our members who pass the summer on Mount Desert Island, Maine, often drive to the Somes House, Somesville, where this incident was observed last August. As the dining-room was crowded, two tables had been set on the piazza close together, one for us, the other for some people who were expected. As we ate and talked merrily, a song sparrow alighted on the unoccupied table and partook of a full leisurely meal of bread, leaving only when he had been fully satisfied. He was not in the least disturbed by the noise of talking and laughing, and when the people finally came, the sparrow had gone and they never noticed his depredations. T. SOUTH AFRICAN BIRD PROTECTION Few countries in the world are blessed with greater numbers and variety of native birds than South Africa. Many of the feathered tribe are beautiful, with flaming red, bright green, orange or blue wings and tails. Among the most interesting is the secretary-bird, a tall heron-like creature with long feathers sticking out from the back of the head suggestive of a pen stuck over a person's ear. The secretary-bird is an enemy of snakes and consequently has been protected by law many years. With the exception of one or two other species, the birds of South Africa have not been protected by man, and every year sees quantities of them slaughtered by boys, both of the white and black races. Many birds are caught in snares and by the use of bird-lime. Realizing that unless something is done soon to stop this useless slaughter, South Africa will be as denuded of birds as it has already been of wild game, a few interested persons last year organized the Wild Birds Protection Society of South Africa, with Mr. P. J. Frost, of Zeerust, Transvaal, as honorary secretary. The Society was started mainly through Mr. Frost's personal efforts, but it is fortunate in having attracted to its membership numerous prominent men and women of the country, including Mr. F. W. Fitzsimons, director of the museum at Port Elizabeth; Sir Lionel and Lady Phillips; Sir Abe Bailey and Prof. E. Warren, of the LIniversity of Natal. Last year the society held an essay contest on the protection of birds open to the school teachers of the Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, which brought forward a great many essays both in English and Taal. The prize essays were published in the newspapers throughout the country and resulted in much public interest in the protection of birds. This year the Society held an essay contest open to school-children. 4 Monthly Bulletin THE HINGHAM BIRD RESERVATION As the Hingham reservation is well started on its seventh year, it is very gratifying to know that the purpose for which it was started, the pro- tection and increase of hirds, particularly quail, has been very successful. We have had the co-operation and moral support of the real sportsman, not pothunters, as they realize that, having a protected breeding place for the birds, the overflow will stock the adjacent coverts outside the reservation and give a constant supply of game for the sportsmen. Of course the pot- hunters would like to get into the reservation and kill all the quail they could find; the same class of people would sneak into a fish hatchery and net a lot of breeding trout and think they had had a great day. The worst enemy the birds have is the cats. These are a menace to bird life and a nuisance to the neighbors. The pet cats kill for the fun of killing, as is proven by the mutilated bodies of quail and young robins which have been found near the houses where these cats live, and, when abandoned in the fall by their owners, which, I am sorry to say, is frequently done, they are obliged to kill for food. The legislature by an unprecedented stroke of generosity has provided our game warden, Mr. Steele, with a Ford car and the reservation will be more closely guarded than ever, and woe to the man who is found within the limits with a gun although he may not have any game. The quail have become so tame in the residential section of Crow Point that they are seen daily in our gardens and the cheery call of the little cock in the early morning has saved many a business man from losing the boat to Boston. One pair of quail raised a brood of ten early in the season very near my house and, having been successful, tried a second. But unfortu- nately the little hen built her second nest close to Whiton Avenue, and someone discovered it and in a few days everyone knew of it and the fre- quent visits of thoughtless people to it so disturbed her that, finding she could not incubate the eggs, of which there were thirteen, she abandoned the nest altogether. Yesterday the little cock ran across my lawn, and by his being alcae at this time of the year it is evident that the hen is making a third attempt to raise a brood. Although the snapping turtles killed a good many young ducks this season, Mr. Rice, who has charge of them, tells me he has raised about fifty, and these, with the old ones left over from last season, were too many to get a living in Mr. Bradley's pond, which, though an ideal place for a few is not large enough for so many. They therefore had to be fed, which led them to consider man their friend rather than their enemy, and made them an easy mark for gunners during their frequent excur- sions into the harbor. The Federal Migratory Law has been so effective that ducks of all kinds are increasing all over the country and we have therefore decided to reduce the number to a few that will be able to subsist without being fed and also remain wilder, which is desirable. The stock is absolutely pure and those not kept will be trapped and probably liberated in Muddy River or Jamaica Pond. Let us hope that the next four years will be as satisfactory on the Reservation as the previous six have been. Alexander Pope. Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 THE STORY OF A HOUSE WREN To those who are intimately acquainted with the little house wren, the following account will not be particularly exciting. To us it was a novel experience to have a pair of house wrens for our neighbors for a period of six weeks this summer. Once in my childhood I saw the nest of a house wren. It was in a hole in an old pear tree on my grandfather's farm. Since we have lived in the country in early May, we have heard the wren's delightful song for a few days every year. Two years ago a pair of wrens decided to make their nest in a bird-house which we had put up on an old cedar tree a few yards from the house. We were thrilled at the idea of having a family of wrens take up their abode so near us, and we watched them eagerly lining the bird- house, but alas, after a few days, the birds appeared to get dissatisfied with the place and suddenly vanished. I was informed that this is frequently the way with the house wrens. This year, however, came a pair of wrens and decided to stay. All day in the early days of May the tiny male bird, perched on a dead twig of the old cedar, poured out his rippling, gushing melody. So small he was his little body seemed to be just one continuous vibration. A few days later the female appeared. They began the nest. On June 6th at the close of a very hot day one of the wrens was hopping about the veranda, in most friendly fashion, searching for worms in the pot of the box tree. I saw what a rich brown color it had on back and wings with a tinge it seemed of violet somewhere. June 8th. After two days of absence, on the third morning the wren was seen again sitting on his favorite perch on the dead twig below the bird- house, but he sings no more. June 15th. The wrens are still with us. Are they raising another brood in the same nest? June 22nd. Still here and feeding young vigorously. When the wren flies it is so small its wings seem to whir and beat the air like the wings of a hummingbird or an insect. I left Waltham on the 23rd, and so this story has no ending. When I returned July 7th, the wrens had gone. We never saw the young birds. July 19th. I saw a small brown bird fly in and then out of the hole in the bird-house. July 24th. This morning I saw the wren flying about in the neighbor hood and heard him make his scolding noise. Annie L. Sears, Locust Hill, Waltham, Mass. WILD LIFE LEAGUE Mr. Howard H. Cleaves, formerly curator of the Staten Island Museum, who has sincq been in conservation work on the Pacific Coast, is now the Secretary of the Wild Life League of West Virginia with offices at Clarksburg. The League has an extensive program for the organization of the State for the protection of its forests, fish, game and other natural resources. Mr. Cleaves is an efficient organizer, and the League is expected to do a valuable work for the State under his management. 6 Monthly Bulletin NOTES FROM THE MOOSE HILL BIRD SANCTUARY By Harry George Higbee, Superintendent. Our new location at the Sliaron Sanctuary has proved itself remark- ably well adapted to our needs. While this season has, of necessity, been spent largely in "settling" and preparation work, thus giving little oppor- tunity for detailed studies of our bird and plant life, these "denizens of the wild" have so persistently crowded about us that we are daily forced to notice them and to acknowledge them as the real "owners" of our forty- live acres of field, forest and woodland. Bird-life has been abundant from the start, many birds "banded" at our old headquarters being noted feeding here almost from the time of establishing our new "stations" in April. About two hundred nesting-boxes and feeding-devices have been erected and have been well patronized. House wrens sang daily about the yard, bluebirds and tree swallows used our boxes freely; chimney swifts nested in our exhibition room chimney, and brown thrashers, catbirds, orioles, thrushes and others within sight of the house. Two pairs of humming- birds built their beautiful little lichen-covered nests within fifty yards of our office, and even the woodcock gave nightly exhibitions of their wonder- ful flight songs over our dooryard, nesting close by among the alders and birches. A pair of bob-whites brought forth their young within sight of the house and within a few yards of one of our trails where thousands of visitors have passed. Mourning doves were daily visitors, feeding in our driveway and about the lawn. From our porch a yellow-breasted chat could frequently be heard singing, there being two fine males of this rare warbler for some time on the Superintendent's own lot, not far distant. Hermit thrushes were heard both from our "Hermit Thrush Grove" and along the "Ferny Trail," it being frequently possible to hear from the latter point the wood thrush, the veery and the hermit thrush in song at the same time. On June 22nd a purple martin visited us, remaining for a short time about one of our martin-houses in the yard, — ihe first of this species which has been seen in this vicinity for many years. A pair of white-breasted nuthatches nested here and were constant visitors to our food trays, later bringing their young with them. Our little stone bird-bath on the lawn has been a constant source of pleasure, four- teen species of birds having been observed about it. These include the scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, bluebird, pine and black-throated green warblers, goldfinch and house wren. We have banded so far this season 239 birds; "repeats" and "returns" to the number of 273, making a total of 512 birds handled in this work. These represented twenty-five species. Our wild flowers and ferns add greatly to the interest of the Sanctuary. During the spring and early summer months, hepatica, wild ginger, spring beauty, bunchberry and other rarer flowers might be seen; trilliums of several varieties grew along our trails; while the "pink," the "showy," and the "yellow" lady's slippers added their peculiar charm to the graceful setting of ferns and other swamp-loving plants. In the beautiful pine woods of our "Hermit Thrush Grove" the ground seemed literally carpeted with the pink lady's slipper, or moccasin-flower. In our "Meadow Lot" grow many interesting marsh-loving flowers. Turtle-head, cardinal, wild calla, arethusa and the tiny sundew may be found along the stream or about the edges of the spring; sloping up from the marsh are veritable wild gardens of asters, goldenrods and flowers of Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 every hue, and along the upper slope bordering our "Trail of the Big Pine" are beautiful little cedars and many other fruit-bearing trees and shrubs where the birds love to linger. Along our "Ferny Trail," which leads directly from the office to the summit of Moose Hill through an attractive bit of swamp and rocky woodland, have been placed many of the rarer ferns and flowers, — several oi" these being the gifts of visiting friends, while a few have been pur- chased. The rattlesnake fern, ostrich fern, climbing fern and others find natural settings among the great clumps of swamp azalea and sweet pepper- bush, while the walking fern, maidenhair, rusty woodsia and spleenworts seem at home about the rockery and bird-bath here. Thirty-two species of ferns may now be found growing here in convenient places for study. Trail-making has been undertaken with a view of facilitating bird study and making these natural attractions more accessible. More than two miles of trails have now been completed, providing a most beautiful and varied walk through the woodland from Sharon Station to the summit of Moose Hill, over land entirely under our control and with a variation in altitude of three hundred feet. Fern-bordered streams, scrubby knolls, open marsh-land, a bit of primeval forest with many ancient pines, sphagnum- covered swamps, gurgling brooks and rocky hillsides, — each with its own peculiar forms of life, — here combine to make a sylvan trail of rare beauty for the nature lover. Along this trail have been identified two hundred and fifty species of plant life, many of these being fruit-bearing shrubs especially attractive to our migrating birds. Deer tracks have also been seen here on several occasions. These trails are maintained through the kindness of Mrs. Emma J. Glazier, Mr. John G. Phillips, Mr. Henry P. Kendall and Mr. Albert F. Flanders, whose lands they cross, and to whom the grateful thanks of our society are due for their generosity and co-operation. Since our change of location the name "Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary" refers solely to land owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the sur- rounding areas which are being posted through co-operation of the owners, — and which now total nearly one thousand acres, — being termed the "reserva- tion" or "protected area." A total of One Hundred and Four species of birds have been noted from our sanctuary grounds so far this year. NEW EXHIBITS AT SANCTUARY Among recent additions to our exhibition room are a series of water- color Drawings of birds' eggs, the gift of Miss Nathalia Bent of Canton, a collection of birds' eggs representing about a hundred species, by A. R. Hanks of Needham, Indian arrow and spear-heads, by Fred R. Gushing of Sharon; aigrettes, by the State Department of Ornithology, and bird- skins, by H. J. Hope of East Milton. Also four framed colored original Audubon prints — of the courlan (limpkin), golden plover, godwit and snowbird (junco), loaned by the Superintendent, who is also arranging exhibition cases here of some of his specimens of mounted birds. We should be glad to confer with any one having books or speciinens of interest which they would be willing to give or loan to the Society foi its work here. 8 M onthly B nil etin KILLING THE POET'S BIRD "A Bird Lover" writes in the London Times (Februciry 25th, 1922) : — "No one can pass a poulterer's shop at present without seeing piles of larks for sale. They are sometimes in boxes, sometimes strung on a string with their throats twisted. In all the stores one meets the same heaps of pathetic little corpses. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has never ceased to protest against the slaughter of the loveliest of all our song birds, but the shopmen always return the same answer, that they must sell them because their customers ask for them. The catching of these birds is attended with great cruelty, and there is not even the excuse of killing them for sport, which the gunmen of Monte Carlo advance. The Bird Society has suggested that if people refused to deal at the shops or the departments of stores where the larks are sold the slaughter would stop. But I fear that not one customer in a thousand will take the trouble to make a protest. I therefore venture to write to you to suggest that a bill should be introduced into Parliament forbidding the destruction of larks. This is the English skylark of which Shakespeare wrote: "Hark, hark, the lark At heaven's gate sings." The bird which later Shelley eulogized in rhapsodic verse, beginning: "Hail to thee, blithe spirit, Bird than never wert, That from heaven or near it Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." Yet in England, to-day, they sell larks in the market-place! Such a state of affairs might be inconceivable to an American, did he not, alas! recall that our federal government still reckons that blithe singer the bobolink a game bird. Let us on both sides of the Atlantic recall in all humility Ralph Hodgson's poem: I saw with open eyes Singing birds sweet Sold in the shops For the people to eat. Sold in the shops of Stupidity Street. I saw in vision The worm in the wheat. And in the shops nothing For people to eat; Nothing for sale in Stupidity Street. PRICE-LIST OF LITERATURE SOLD BY THE MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY 66 XHWHURV ST., BOSTON EDUCATIONAL LEAFLETS, Price Five Cents These leaflets, published by the National Association of Audubon Societies have four pages of descriptive text, a separate colored jilate, and a separate outline on drawing paper, intended to be colored. 1. Nighthawk 36. Mallard 86. Brown Thrasher 2. Mourning Dove 37. Shar]) shinned Hawk 69. Tufted Puffin 3! Meadowlark 38. Bol)olink 70. Catbird 4. Upland Plover 39. House Wren 71. Tufted Titmouse 5. Flicker 40. Bush Tit 72. Wood Thrush 6. Passenger Pigeon 41. Mockingbird 73. Wliip-])o()r-will 7. Wood Duck 42. (Jrchartl Oriole 74. Roseate Spoonbill 8. Marsh Hawk 43. Red-headed Wood- 75. Sora Rail 9. Red-shouldered Hawk jiecker 76. Pintail 10. Sparrow Hawk 44. Franlclin's Gull 77. Crow 11. Screech Owl 45. Bl'k-headed Grosbeak 78. Loon 12. Short-eared Owl 46. Robin 79. Towhee 13. Purple Martin 47. Bob-white 80. Chijjping Sparrow 14. Barn Owl 48. Cedar Waxwing 81. Kingbird 15. Yellow-billed Cucko( > 49. Chinniey Swift 82. liald I'ingle 16. Tree Sparrow 50. Carolina Wren 83. Surf Scoter 17. Goldfinch 51. Spotted Sandpiper 84. Shoveller 18. Cardinal 52. Least and Semipal- 85. Chestnut-sided 19. Kingfisher mated Sandpipers Warbler 20. Rose-breasted Gros- 53. Horned Lark 86. Redstart beak 54. Snowy Egret 87. Veery 21. Scarlet Tant^ger 55. Downey Woodpecker 88. Avocet 22. Blue Jay 56. Ruby-throated Hum- 89. Black-necked Stilt 23. Killdeer mingbird 90. English Sparrow 24. Bluebird 57. Yellow-headed 91. Sage Grouse 25. Red-^ang'd Bl'kbird Blackbird 92. White-throated Spar- 26. Baltimore Oriole 58. California Quail row 27. Indigo Bunting 59. The Nuthatches 93. Phoebe 28. Purple Finch 60. W'illow Ptarmigan 94. Pileated Woodpecker 29. Herring Gull 61. Chicadee 95. Raven 30. Snow Bunting 62. Hudsonian Curlew 96. Slate-colored Junco 31. Song Sparrow 63. Ruffed Grouse 97. Least Tern 32. Barn Swallow 64. Emperor Goose 98. Least Bittern 33. Tree Swallow 65. Crested Auklet 99. Red-Eyed Vireo 34. The Kinglets 66. Green Heron 100. Turkey Vulture 35. The Crossbills 67. Alaskan Longspur USEFUL BOOKS RECOMMENDED Travels of Birds. By F. M. Chapman. Illustrated. Our Winter Birds. By F. M. Chapman. The Bird Book. By FaNNiE H. Eckstrom. Recommended for beginners. 12mo. cloth. Tales from Birdland. By T. Gilbkkt Pearson. Decorated cloth, illustrated 12mo. The Bird Study Book. By T. Gilbert Pearson. Decorated cloth. Illustrated. 12nio. Stories of Bird Life. By T. Gilbert Pearson. A book for young readers. 12nio. cloth. Illustrated. Postpaid, 80 cents. Postpaid, $1.50 Posti)aid, $1.40 Postpaid, $1.10 Postpaid, $1.35 Postpaid, 80 cents Burgess Bird Book for Children. (58 colored plates.) Postpaid, $3.15. BurgessjAnimal Book for Children. (32 colored plates.) Postpaid, .$3.15 A Year with the Birds. By Alice E. Ball. A book of charming poems about the birds. Illustrated by 56 colored plates. Postpaid, $3.65 First Book of Birds. By Olive Thorne Miller. Book for beginners. Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.90 Second Book of Birds. By Olive Thorne Miller. Com])anion volume to First Book of Birds. Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.90. Birds of Village and Field. By Florence Merriam Bailey. Book for l)eginners. Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.90. Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America. By Frank M. Chapman. Keys to and descri])tions of all east(M'n l)irds, with notes of habits and lists of ref- erence-books. Six colored plates and many other illustrations. 12mo. cloth. 530 i)ages. " Postpaid, $4.15 Handbook of Birds of the Western United States. By Florence Merriam Bailey. I A similarly complete'manual of western birds. Profusely illustrated. Postpaid, $4.15. Bird-Life. By Frank M. Chapman. An introduction to ornithology and description of the commoner eastern birds, 05 colored plates. Especially useful to amateurs. Postpaid, $4.15. Warblers of North America. By F. M. Chapman. 24 colored plates. Postpaid, $3.70 Birds of the Cambridge Region. By William Brewster. Memoir IX of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 4 plates and 3 maps. Postpaid, $2.65 Birds of Essex County. By Charles W. Townsend. Memoir III of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 1 plate and 1 map. Postpaid, $2.56 Supplement to Birds"of Essex County. By Charles W. Townsend. Memoir V of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 1 plate and 1 map. Postpaid, $2.15 Field Observation Book. Suggestions and blanks for recording identification notes on birds in the field. Much used by Boy Scouts. Pocket size, flexible cover. Postpaid, 20 cents Hand Book of Nature Study for Teachers and Parents. By Anna B. Comstock. Illustrated. Highly recommended as a general guide. Postpaid, $3.75. Methods of Attracting Birds. By Gilbert H. Trafton. A useful handbook. 12mo. 172 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.75. Portraits and Habits of Our Birds. Volume I and Volume II. Postpaid, $4.00 each. (Volume I contains Educational Leaflets 1 to 50 with index; Volume II, Leaflets 51 to 100.) Book of Birds. Contains principal articles on birds published during last six years in National Geographic Magazine. 250 colored illustrations by Fuertes. Postpaid, $3.40. What Bu-d is That. By F. M. Chapman. Pocket Museum of the Birds of the Eastern U. S. Arranged according to seasons. Cloth edition Postpaid, $1.65. Leather edition Postpaid, $1.90. Field Book of Wild Birds and Then- Music. By F. Schuyler Mathews. A description of the character and music of birds, intended to assist in the identi- fication of species [common in the Eastern United States. Illustrated by many colored plates. Postpaid, $3.65 Birds of New York. A collection of 106 colored plates, illustrating every bird ever known to fly over the State of New York. This set of pictures is equally serviceable for New England. Unbound form "Postpaid, $1.75. Bound form Postpaid, $2.75. Pocket Handbooks. By Chester A. Reed and others. Uniform in size, 5h by Si inches; flexible covers. Every page bears a colored picture of one or more birds or other objects described. The prices include postage: Latid Birds East of the Rockies. Cloth, $1.25; flexible, $1.50. Water Birds East of the Rockies. Cloth, $1.50; flexible, $1.75. Land Birds ]V,.st of the Rockies. Cloth, $1.25; flexible, $1.50. AiiiiiKd Guide (North American Mammals). Cloth, $1.25. Flotvcr Guide (for the Eastern States). Cloth, $1.25; flexible, $1.50. Tree Guide. By Julia E. Rogers. Cloth, $1.25; flexible, $1.50. Butterfly Guide. By W. J. Holland. Cloth, $1.25; flexible, $1.50. Wild Flowers of New York. Similar form to the "Birds of New York," containiiif); a collection of 264 colored plates, illustrating; all the wild flowers foiuid within the boundaries of New York. As in the case of the bird pictures, these flower plates are equally serviceable and valuable for New England. Unbound form. Postpaid, $ 3.25 Bound form, Postpaid, $4.. 00 Pamphlets Bulletin No. 1. Attracting Birds about the Home. Illustrated articles containing de- signs for bird-houses, bird-tables, lists of shrubs, etc. Postpaid, 1.5 cents. Bulletin No. 2. Propagation of Upland Game Birds. By H. K. Job. Postpaid, 25 cents. Bulletin No. 3. Propagation of Wild Water-fowl. By H. K. Job. Postpaid, 25 cents. Bulletin No. 4. Bird Study in Elementary Schools. Postpaid, 25 cents. Primer of Bird Study. By Ehnest iNCiERSoLL. Postpaid, 18 cents. AUDUBON BIRD CHARTS The Audubon bird charts are 27 x 42 inches, lithograjjlied on good paper and mounted on cloth, with wooden rollers at top and bottom. They show the birds, life size, in characteristic attitudes and natural colors. A booklet accompanies each chart describing the birds shown. These charts are especially valuable for school and library use as they offer practical help in nature study and drawing. An illusti'ated descriptive circular on request. No. 1 — ^26 Common Birds. No. 2 — 26 Common Birds. No. 3 — 20 Winter Birds. Price of Each Chart, $2.50 AUDUBON BIRD COLLECTION Educational folders 5x8 inches, printed on light card for pocket reference. Each case shows a group of birds, drawn to uniform scale and in full colors. May be used for class room study or for identification in field work. No. 1 — Permanent resident and winter visitant land birds of the North- eastern States. (63 birds) No. 2 — Permanent resident and winter visitant land birds of the South- eastern States. (82 birds) No. 3 — Early spring migrant land birds of the Eastern United States. (74 birds) No. 4 — Common winter land birds of the Western United States. (84 birds) Price Ten Cents Each Our Bird Friends. By ISarah H. Dudley. An educational Game for Home and School. Fifty-two of our conunon birds of the summer and winter illustrated and described. Just what is needed by both young and old to teach the essential points in the identification of birds. Postpaid, 50 cents. Stereopticon Slides. More than 200 different Lantern Slides, admirably colored, and suitable for illus- trating Lectures on Birds. List furnished on application. Postpaid, Sl.OO each. Field Glasses. Price $7.50, postpaid, including case and strap (supply is small). Price .$12.00, postpaid, including case and strap. Both these glasses are very good and come well recommended. Bird-lore. Edited by Frank M. Chapman. An illustrated bi-monthly magazine. — • $1.50 per year. Official organ of the National Association of Audubon Societies. Monthly Bulletin of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Contains news, items, notices of lectures, etc. of interest to the birdlover. Included with .subscription to the Society, $1.00 per year. Any other bird-book may be obtained on request. Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Page Colored Plates by Louis Agassi% Fuertes, Bruce Hon fall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawings and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, $4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) "HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. OUR BIRD FRIENDS An Educational Game for Home and School A Fine Christmas Gift for Children. Indorsed by the leading Educators, Ornithologists, Scout and Camp Fire Leaders, and Librarians. Fifty-two of our common birds of the summer and winter illustrated and described. Price 50 cents SARAH H. DUDLEY Berlin, Mass. The Packard Bird Food Wins the Winter Birds A balanced ration, it attracts and satisfies them all. By mail, postpaid in New England, elsewhere add postage. 8 pounds for $1.50 Volume VI. DECEM^"^J^, 1922 Number 8 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. C BULLETIN MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription •;'''ice, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and Life Membership fees. C/l O 2 3^' _^ 'Hi 2 Massac hu sett s^'-A u d u b o n Society The Massachusetts Audubon Society (Founded 1896. Incorpor.\ted (1915) Edward Howe Forbush, President Winthrop Packard, Secretary-Treasurer Charles F. Batchelder Mrs. J. L. Bremer Mrs. John L. Gardner Mrs. Augustus Hemenway Mrs. Henry s. Hunnewell Mrs. Endicott Peabody Miss Ellen F. Pendelton Mrs. John C. Phillips Fr.\ncis H. Allen, Chairman Mrs. Arthur T. Cabot Mrs. John W. Elliot Mrs. Robert B. Greenough Miss Minna B. Hall Mrs. .■\uGusTus Hemenw.'^y VICE-PRESIDENTS Mrs. Dudley L. Pickman Mrs. J. J. Storrow Mrs. John E. Thayer Miss MaryE. Woolley Sylvester Baxter William Sturgi^ Bigelow, M. George W. Field, Ph. D. W. Cameron Forbf;s DIRECTORS Miss Harriet E. Richards Dr. Glover M. Allen Arthur C. Bent Rev. Robert F. Cheney Judge Charles F. Jenney Frederic H. Kennard Ralph Hoffman Harris Kennedy Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.D. A. Lawrence Lowell James Arnold Lowell Prof. Edward S. Morse Hon. Herbert Parker Prof. Charles S. Sargent Ralph Lawson Edward L. Parker Dr. John C. Phillips Alexander Pope Dr. Charles W. Townsend WiLLi.\M P. Wharton MEMBERSHIP The Society needs -150,000 at least in order to increase its activities. Will you help expand its usefulness? The classes of Membership are Life Members paying not less than S25.00 at one time. Sustaining Members paying $1.00 annually. Junior Members under ten years, paying 10 cents. ADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP Bird Preservation Personal participation in the great work of saving our valuable and beautiful' wild birds. Information Advice from competent specialists on the best methods of bird study and bird protection on the home grounds, in sanctuaries or elsewhere, assistance in identification. Reading Room and Exhibition Hall Use at any time of the reading room and exhibition hall at the office, 66 Newbury Street, where bird books, pictures, charts, leaflets and all modern appliances for bird protection are displayed. Bird Lectures The Society gives annually a Course of Lectures, illustrated by stereopticon and moving pictures by the foremost bird specialists of the countiy. Members have the first opportunity to purchase these tickets at moderate prices. Bird Sanctuary Members and their friends have free use of the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary for bird study and recreation. Monthly Bulletin All Sustaining and Life Members receive without further expense the Monthly Bulletin, containing information regarding the work of the Society and news of interest in the world of bird study and bird protection. Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 LOST GARDENS By Winthrop Packard (From the Christio'i Science Monitor) Deep in the woodlands of New England I find traces of abandoned homes where to the casual glance there is no registration save that of the forest primeval. These are not traces of the aboriginal inhabitants. The Indians' home life was too casual to have left such. The most likely would be marks of their cornfields, for the Indians taught the white settlers how to plant Indian corn. Traces, indeed, of very ancient corn fields remain, often in the depths of pine forests, for the pine thrives on just such land as does corn, soft, easily worked, sandy loam. But I am always confident that these traces are of the white man's planting. They are the little spaces regularly laid out in which the early settler planted. It was the custom of the Pilgrim forefathers to "hill up" their corn, hoeing up the dirt about the base of the stalks. These little mounds of earth are strangely persistent. They show today in places within fifteen miles of Boston where, two hundred years ago some farmer planted his corn, showing the place plainly though the farm house itself is but forest mould, the cellar-hole merelv a depression in the brown earth, and deep woods shade the region all about. These corn fieldsi may well have been planted by the Massachusetts Indians before the settlers took them over. The only trace of such occu- pancy w^ould be an ancient stone mortar and pestle, so primitive in shape that it takes the keen eye of the Archoeologist to recognize it, or perhaps the more easily known stone hatchet or flint arrow head. The soft sand of the surface hides these, and only the plough or the spade would disclose them, if there. Thus, so far as eastern North America goes, homestead traces are those of the white man. These, however, are more than corn-hills and cellar-holes. The rising tide of civilization that swept over New England's highest hills two centuries ago was a civilization of farm life. In it the pioneer spirit was still strong and it hewed homes out of the hillside where the forest was primeval. I believe almost every town today has acreage where the forest has come back, sweeping in silent majesty over the farmer's holdings, making mould of his fences and buildings and leaving often only the slightest traces of his former occupancy. The pioneer spirit and its farm life moved west with the passing of the years and the forests which only the farmer's axe and plough had kept out, returned to their own. But not quite; most things that the pioneer planted passed with him; some remained, more faithful to the land than the land owner. Often, roaming the deep woods where you expect to find only creatures of the primal forests you find a waif of civilization living serenely, a hermit in the wilderness. I know on a hillside a purple lilac that every May sends its rich fragrance questing far through cathedral pines. Careful search only shows a tiny hollow that marks the site of the wee house that stood there. Of the home and its life of more than a century ago only this record remains. Yet the sturdy shrub blooms bravely there, holding in its heart wood recollections that go far beyond the hand that planted it and the pioneer days of New England. We propagate the lilac from the root and the same sap flows through the veins of the shrubs of today that flowed in those of a thousand years 4 Massachusetts Audubon Society ago. Thei whiff of lilac perfume that I get in May from the hermit of the woods is that of long vanished home gardens, not only those of the Pilgrims of Plymouth, hut of a thousand generations before that. It carries us back to the England of the cavaliers, of Cromwell and his Ironsides, and on again to Persia and the far East. Perhaps upon the ancestral root from which has descended my hermit plant sat Hafiz when he wrote — fit motto for the pioneer — "On the brow of the young man sits no gem so gracious as enterprise"; or life-loving old Omar Khaygam as he sang, And when like her, Saki, you shall pass Among the guests star-scattered on the grass And in, your blissful errand reach the spot Where I made one — turn down an empty glass." A thousand dreams and traditions clu>^ter about the lilac. It is fitting that it should remain as a monument to New England homesteaders long years after the pioneers that planted it have passed and no other record of their occupancy remains. No New Englander, however far he has wandered from the ancestral hearthstone, but holds the lilac in loving remembrance. To many such a whiff of lilac perfume brings homesick- ness. It is the odor of the home garden of the race. In the West Indies the lilac is thought to be potent to keep away ghosts, banshees, and all evil spirits. If it is not planted by the doorstone a sprig of it is placed over the door. Surely its beauty and fragrance is a power for good, wherever it may grow. Long ago the Indians, keen to note all woodland omens, said that the plantain leaf was the white man's foot print. As Longfellow set it down in Hiawatha: "Where so'er they tread, beneath them Springs a flower unknown among us; Springs the White Man's Foot in blossom." The plaintain loves the dooryard. Wherever man goes back and forth it follows and sets its foot-print leaves. There it flourishes as long as man and his marks remain, and) for some time after, but it does not remain indefinitely as does the lilac. Let a term of years pass, let the forest move too ruthlessly in upon the abandoned dooryard and the plain- tain disappears. The Indian was right in associating it with the white man. When his footstep has too long departed the plantain goes too. Its power to remain while man does is noted in very ancient literature where it is called by its ancient name of waybroad. In a book of leech- craft of the eleventh century it is thus apostrophised: "And thou Waybroad, Mother of worts. Over thee carts creaked, Over thee queen's rode. Over thee brides biidalled, Over thee bulls brf-athed. All these thou withstoodst." Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 Very diflferent from this is the cypress spurge which once was planted by New England grandmothers as a garden plant, one wonders why, for it is insignificant, lacks beauty and with its sticky, milky juice would hardly be of use in a bouquet. Its blooms are strangely shaped and the grand- mothers knew it as ''Love-in-a-huddle" and "Seven Sisters." Certainly its plants huddle together and, propagating by short root stocks, it takes up all ground as it goes. I know fields where it has crowded out grass and all plants, resolutely marking the site of the old-time dooryard, though no other sign remains. As persistent as this plant, but less noticeable, is the old-fashioned moneywort, with its round green leaves pressed flat to earth and its little gold coins of bloom. Moneywort climbs lovingly along any plot of earth where once it was planted. Neither scythe nor lawn mower can eradicate it, nor can close-growing turf or shade crowd it out. It is no wanderer. I do not find it in plots where it was not planted. It should not be classed among the "garden escapes" for it has never escaped. It is the garden that has gone^ leaving it behind. Not even the lilac is a surer indicator of an ancient garden plot than is the shyly hiding, per- sistent golden-blooming moneywort. Once, walking in February over land that had been a century before part of an ancient New England garden, my foot crushed through "cat-ice" where a snowdrift had almost melted away. Looking down in the space thus opened, I saw a little plant in bloom, holding up small pansy faces that nodded roguishly in the keen winter air. There was a hardy marker of old-time garden spots that all the world loves today for its cheery bloom, the Ladies' Delights. The warmth of the earth beneath the sheltering snow-drift had so thrilled the heart of this cheery flower that it had bloomed in the very middle of a New England winter. I fancy the Ladies' Delights to be the best loved of all the favorites of the old colonial gardens. One might guess it by their various nick-names of which Ladies' Delights is one. In the South they are "Johnny-Jmnp-ups," and elsewhere. Birds-eye, Garden-gates, None-so-pretty, Kitty-come, Kit-run-about, Three-faces-under-a-hood, Kiss- me, Tickle-my-fancy, Kiss-me-ere-I-rise, Jump-up-and-kiss-me, and these flowers have one other name — the longest name probably ever given a flower in the English language — Meet-her-in-the-entry-kiss-her-in-the-buttery. As might be inferred from all these fit names, the tiny pansies are among the best loved of old English garden flowers, for like the lilac the Ladies' Delights were brought here from England by loving hands in the early years of the Colonies that they might be loved in American gardens as they were loved in English gardens of old and are still loved today. Not all old garden sites are marked by these flowers. They are cheery, hardy, irrepressible, where they wish to be so. If they love a spot they will stay with it and blossom there all summer long and half the winter, if sheltering snows favor them. If they do not love it they move on, with uncanny prescience, to some place that they can love. They are at once persistent stayers and persistent wanderers. Wherever they are their joyous, piquant faces are rightly what their usual name calls them, Ladies' De- lights. Through them we pass from the list of flowers that sturdily stand by the old garden-sites where they were first planted, to those other rightly named "garden escapes" that roam the earth untrammelled and fancy free, like the Bouncing Bet and the Butter- and-eggs. Theirs is another story. 6 Massachusetts Audubon Society CHRISTMAS IS NEAR A full list of the bird books and bird-protection material, charts, calendars, etc., on sale by the Society was printed in the November issue of the Bulletin. Reprints of this list are being mailed to all members in the hope they may find something in it suitable for their Christmas shopping. We sell at list prices and mail without charge, and the small margin of profit on the transaction goes to help the birds. The office force eagerly awaits an opportunity to fill your order whether by mail, by telephone or in person. BIRD LECTURES The Society's Annual Bird Lecture Course for 1923 will be held earlier in the season than usual. The present plans include a lecture in person by William L. Finley, of Oregon, the foremost moving-picture photographer of wild bird-life in the country. In order to fit in with the plans of Mr. Finley for his visit East, the date of the first lecture has been set at January 20th; three others will follow Saturdays, January 27, February 3 and 10. Negotiations for other speakers include Robert Cushman Murphy, famous as an explorer and photographer of bird-life in the Southern Hemisphere, and Herbert K. Job, whose experiences in the study of wild bird-life near home are always so vivid and entertaining. It is possible that this program may be changed somewhat, but such are the plans at present. Do not fail to reserve these dates, January 20 and 27, February 3 and 10. These lectures are admirably adapted to please, interest and instruct children, and it is hoped that all members will make special effort to see that as many children as possible attend. The hour, which Avill be 10:30, and the day of the week, Saturday, are arranged with special reference to their convenience. OTHER SOCIETIES The editors would like to publish from time to time news of other Audubon and local bird societies throughout New England. Send us word of your successes this year, new sanctuaries or new developments in the old ones, lectures held or planned, rare or unusual birds or bird activities noted. Our readers will be elad to know of these thinirs. PHILIPPINE BIRDS A beautiful bird book comes to the editor's desk from far away Manila in the Philippine Islands. It is intended primarily for boys and girls of the Philippines, but it is of interest as well to bird students anywhere and especially to boys and girls who are interested in birds. All the birds described are Philippine species, some found only in these islands, most of them abundant. The illustrations finely done by Macario Ligaya, of Manila, show thirty-two species, six of them in color. Little stories for children are included with each bird, giving its habits and characteristics. T|jie text is the work of Richard C. McGregor, of the Bureau of Science at Manila, and Elizabeth J. Marshall. The book is published by the authors and sells at $1.50 per copy. Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 FEED THE BIRDS The season is at hand when our winter birds begin to have difficulty in finding their customary food. At such times it is not only a fine philan- thropy but a i^leasure to feed them. Elaborate apparatus is not necessary, any simple feeding arrangement containing plenty of food of the right sort will attract them and keep them about well fed and happy. The Hodgson Swinging Foodhouse, which shelters the food and the birds while feeding, whatever the direction the wind, has been very popular of late and may be ordered through this office. Its cost is $8.00, including pole. For a little inexpensive feeder, easily renewed, the Packard Automatic Feeder is rec- ommended. It costs 75 cents. Through a misprint in the last issue of the Bulletin the Packard Special Mixture Bird Food was listed at $1.50 for an eight-pound bag. This should have read $1.25, which has been the price for many years. FORM A BIRD CLUB There ought to be a local bird club in every community, organized primarily for the pleasure which its members would receive through a mutual study of birds. Such an organization also does valuable work in feeding the winter birds, arranging for local sanctuaries and in general in protecting the useful wild birds of its community. Many towns have such bird clubs, organizations of great value not only to the members but to the community at large. Every town should have one. The January, 1922. issue of the Bulletin had an article by the Secretary entitled "Building a Bird Club" which gives full instructions how to form such an organization. It will be mailed on request to any one needing it. BALD EAGLE NEAR CHARLES RIVER While playing football one afternoon not long ago, Fred Richardson, one of our Local Secretaries, had his attention called to a large bird which was flying near the gridiron. Presently it alighted on the tree, sailing down with a long swoop, giving those who were near by a chance to see its markings, most prominent of which were the white head and white tail. It was quickly decided that the bird was a bald eagle, and another large bird soaring not far away at the same time was thought to be its mate or possibly a companion. A bald eagle is an unusual sight along the Charles. Perhaps its presence presaged victory for this practising football team. CLOTH POSTERS Do you wish to post your land? Would you prefer that no hunting be done there? The Society keeps in stock cloth posters, courteous in state- ment, legally correct and effective, forbidding hunting, trapping or tres- passing. It gives six of these free of charge to any landowner applying for them. If a larger quantity is desired it sells at cost— 5 cents each. Al- ready this year nearly four thousand of these posters have been put out by interested property holders who wish to make their lands sanctuary for wild birds and animals. 8 Massachusetts Audubon Society Life Members Received from September 15, 1922 to November 23, 1922 Cabot, Walter M West Medway Carnegie, Mrs. Andrew, 2nd Manchester Duff. Mrs. J. Robertson 3.i Chestnut Place, Brookllne Forbes, W. Cameron 614 Sears Bldg., Boston Hovvland, Mrs. Llewellyn 17 Hawthorn Road, Brookline Lyman, Miss Mabel Forest St., Waltham Richardson, W. L 225 Commonwealth Ave., Boston Shattuck, George C, M.D 135 Marlboro St., Boston Sustaining Members Received from September 15, 1922 to November 23, 1922 Allen, Miss Margaret 30 Kingsbury Rd., Chestnut Hill Berg, Miss Rose E 128 King St., Dorchester Bigelow, Cleveland, Jr Cohasset Blodget, Mrs. William Chestnut Hill Bowditch, Edward Quail St., West Roxbury Cabot, Rev. J. H Vineyard Haven Collins, Miss Sarah C 30 Arch St., Framingham Crane, Mrs. W. Murray Sugar Hill, Dalton Cunningham, George D Glace Bay, Nova Scotia Davenport, Albert D 56A Berkeley St., Boston Davenport, Edward 1021 River St., Hyde Park Eliot, C. R 2 West Cedar St., Boston Evarts, Mrs. Richard C 7 Hilliard Place, Cambridge Forbes, Mrs. Waldo E Hillside St., Milton Forbes, Mrs. W. H Milton Foss, Mrs. Alden S 64 Central St., Andover Grandin, Mrs. John L 54 The Fenway, Boston Greenwood, Mrs. Levi H 7 Louisburg Sq., Boston Hazard, Willis Gilpin 35 Greenough Ave., Jamaica Plain Hubbard, Mrs. J. C 84 Bay State Rd., Boston Jackson. Robert T Peterborough, N. H. Jones, Miss Hester Parallel St., Arlington Kendall, H. P 60 Congress St., Boston Lawrence, Mrs. H. H 98 Colchester St., Brookline Long, Mrs. John D Hingham Luce, Matthew Jerusalem Rd., Cohasset Macleod, Mrs. Eldon Westwood McCoy, Miss Pearl 233 Park Ave., Bridgewater Merrill, Miss Ruth B 59 Elm Hill Ave., Roxbury Meyer, Mrs. George L Hamilton Milliken, Mrs. A. N 56 Fenway, Boston Mohler, A. F Box 455, Hamburg, Iowa Myrick, H. G., M.D 58 Summer St., Dorchester Newell, Gertrude B Wianno Nichols, C. L., Jr West Sutton Nichols, Mrs. Gilbert M Assonet Nickerson, William G Dedham Page, Mrs. H. W Baldwinville Peabody, Miss Lucia R North Brooklin, Maine Percy, Mrs. Hallie D 986 Charles River Rd., Cambridge Puffer, Miss Geraldine 330 Winthrop St., Medford Reggio, Miss E 55 Pilgrim Rd., Boston Rice, Arthur Wallace Canton Ave., Readville Richardson, Dr. E. P Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Robins, Miss Elsie 5 Chestnut St., Boston Sampson, Mrs. H. L 367 Harvard St., Cambridge Shurtleff, Miss Ethel H 39 Salem End St., Framingham Centre Slocum, Miss Rosalie H 75 Thornton St., Roxbury Smith, Wendall P Wells River, Vermont VanTyne, J 6 Shepard St., Cambridge Warren, Edward A Sharon Warren, Miss Elizabeth T Sliaron Wiley, Miss Lena C Buckland Wylie, Miss Gertrude C 556 Washington St., Dorchester ^ M a i i (/ c h u setts Audubon Society 9 WILD TURKEYS IN THE ADIRONDACKS (Reprinted from The Conservationist) Of the great number of upland game birds, the wild turkey should stand pre-eminently at the head of the sporting list; but there are few persons, perhaps, who realize that the purity of this wonderful bird is at the present time almost lost, owing to its having interbred so much in its native heath with the domestic bird. Not many years ago wild turkeys could be found in many of the northern states and parts of lower Canada, but today, deplorable as it may seem, they have disappeared from all their former ranges in the north, and are found only in greatly reduced numbers within restricted areas of the southern states. It may not be known to the readers of The Conservationist that there exists at this time a beautiful flock of these wonderful birds, in all their purity, within the borders of the Adirondack Park. Yet such is the case. In their snowy Adirondack home, where weather of all kinds does not affect them, they have established themselves perfectly in a state of domestication at the home of the writer near North River. Since he was a small boy, the writer has been deeply interested in the breeding of wild game birds, especially the wild turkey, and he has perhaps given more time to this enterprise than any man in the country. The hardest part of the undertaking has been to secure turkeys of absolutely pure wild blood, with no possible trace of tame stock. This has been necessary in order to retain the vigor and hardihood of the flocks, for there are few birds so quickly affected by inbreeding as the wild turkey. The turkeys which we now find untainted with traces of domestic blood are largely those in the extreme southern states, owing, perhaps, to the inaccessible places of refuge to which they have retreated under the advance of civilization. Virginia was once the native heath of the beautiful buff- tipped wild type, but in recent years the purity of the strain has been almost lost through introduction by the settlers of tame turkeys, which have freelv interbred with the native wild stock. At the present time it is hard to get a specimen in Virginia that does not show domestic blood, more or less remote. It is true that these cross-bred birds are quite suitable for sport, as they are strong on the wing, and quickly adapt themselves to conditions. But the real, genuine, wild birds, as thev were a hundred years ago, are not to be compared with the crosses with which we are compelled to satisfy ourselves today. The true wild birds are of the most gorgeous and brilliant plumage, especially the adults in full dress after the first moult. Each feather is tipped with a metallic, coppery bronze, which glistens in the sunlight like burnished gold, and the ends of fluff" and tail are a deep chocolate or intense buff" color. This is the true character of the wild turkey and distinguishes it from its barnyard cousin, who always shows white tips to tail and fluff. While at the beginning of our experiments with wild turkeys we found that they were somewhat delicate to handle, as time went on and we learned many things heretofore unknown, they responded far beyond our expecta- tions, and today we find them as easily bred as domestic chickens, and far easier to raise to maturity than tame turkeys. 10 Massachusetts Audubon Society A wild turkey hen in captivity is a decidedly poor mother, but, given her entire liberty and left to herself, she will raise a very large percentage of her brood without any of your kind attention. On the other hand a tame turkey, which is almost an idiot, will drabble her young through the morning dew, lead them about in all sorts of inclement weather, and as likely as not start to hover them at night in a mud-hole, or some other place quite as unsuitable. A pure wild hen is quite the reverse; she stays on high ground while the brood is still young, she keeps them closelv hovered in rainy weather, and she never allows them to become exhausted with too much travel before their tiny legs are strong enough. She is the most watchful and persistent, in her cares of motherhood, of all the wild birds with which I have ever come in contact, and her piercing eye never fails to reveal the presence of an enemy. Like all wild mothers she loves her children, and will suffer herself to take the last chance in order to protect and hide the weakling of her brood. For many years it has been my intention to liberate a few of the best birds, just to see what thev would do under our northern conditions. But my stock has been so limited, and the birds so valuable, that I have never felt I could spare the number necessary to form the nucleus of a breeding flock. However, the birds themselves beat me at my own game last year, and this is how it happened. One of the best of my Virginia hens found a hole in the wire, and one morning in early April I found her pen empty — the bird had flown — and, much to mv regret, I was minus one of the finest of my breeding hens. June came with its roses; the blackbirds returned to the "flow" below the big beaver meadows; the old blue heron, that has been my joy and delight, again remodeled her nest down in the tamarack swamp; the little Jenny wren, that has for several years made her home in the skull of a cow, which hangs on the barn, returned with her mate to cheer me the summer through; but no wild turkev ever put in an appearance, and I had long since come to the conclusion that she had fallen prey to some of her natural enemies. But one day in early August, as I was quietly searching for new insects to swell mv already large collection of the "bugs of the Adirondacks," I was startled by the whirring rise of a big bird, and before I could straighten up to see what it was all about, several half-grown young wild turkeys flew almost from under my very feet, sailed with well trained wings down across the marsh, and lit in the vale beyond the beaver dam, amid a tangle of dense foliage, where they were lost to view. The secret was out — my beautiful hen had stolen the march on me, and, true to her kind, had succeeded in eluding the many foxes and great horned owls which haunt this vicinity, had laid her eggs, which for four long weeks must have been carefully brooded, and had brought her youna: to flying size, long before I had even discovered that she was living. Nor was this all; for last year there was an influx of goshawks in this region, which remained and nested, and fed their young, and worked havoc on the partridges and smaller birds which yearly breed near me. Yet this wise old wild turkey hen had escaped them all, and when I saw her last — on November 6th — she still boasted of that proud family, which then numbered fourteen. As the winter approached, and the snow came, I felt sure she would return and join the farm flocks, since other wild turkeys, raised with tame white Holland mothers, were gleaning over the entire farm each day and roosting in the trees. But no such thing ever happened, and, whenever Massachusetts Audubon Society 11 she was seen at all, it was on the wing. Then, when the winter with its intense cold and driving storms came to stay, when the whole earth was blanketed with a carpet of white, and all the songsters, save a few cross- bills, had disappeared for the soutli, my proud lady also disappeared, and with her that lovely brood, which in vain I longed to see once more. Nothing more was seen or heard of the family for many weeks, and I had long since given up hope for their safety. But one day, about the end of February, a flock of turkeys was reported to me as having been seen at the foot of the one-mile-mark hill above North River, on the Indian Lake road. Sure enough they had wintered through — how many I did not know. I quickly went down to see what I might discover and it was this: that at least nine of the birds were alive. As I approached the spot where they had been roosting for several nights, I was surprised once more to see them take wing and disappear in the snowy jungle. Just how this new family is going to turn out in its Adirondack home will be watched with delight. As the past winter was a very mild one in this section, it is possible that these birds may establish themselves and breed the coming season. At least I shall liberate one or more gobblers in the vicinity where they were last seen, and surely hope that the "gobble" of the far-famed wild Tom will once again be heard in the deep recesses of this great forest land. 1 WiLLET Randall. BIRD BANDING At the Annual Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, held last October in Chicago, Dr. Harry C. Oberholser, of the Biological Survey, stated that the most important method of securing facts in ornithology in the last thirty years was by trapping and banding. Feed the birds during the winter and keep up the banding. Watch for banded birds. All members of the United States Coast Guard and Light Service have been notified to keep a sharp lookout for banded birds along the entire Atlantic Coast. A regional bird banding association has been formed in the Middle West to take up bird banding in the Mississippi Valley, the greatest highway for migrating birds on the North American Continent. The association will be known as the "Inland Bird Banding Association." Mr. S. Prentiss Bald- win, of Cleveland, who has banded more living birds than any other man in this country, was chosen president. Mr. W. T. Lyon, of Waukegan, 111., who is an authority in this work is the secretary. Every newspaper in the United States and Canada has printed an article on "Watch for Banded Birds," calling the attention of the public to the importance of reporting to the local game warden or to the Biological Survey any birds that may be found dead (or shot) that wear a band. Charles B. Floyd. Portraits and Habits of Our Birds These two volumes, elegantly bound in buckram and gold, contain valuable material by many authors, all expert bird men, edited by T. Gilbert Pearson Each Volume is Illustrated by Fifty Full-Pa^e Colored Plates by Louis Agassi-z, Fuertes, Bruce Horsfall and other artists of note AND Thirty or More Drawings and Photographs from Nature Here are the leaflets which have been issued from time to time by the National Association, bound in permanent and very attractive form. They may be seen at the Audubon Society Office, 66 Newbury Street, or will be mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, $4.00 per volume, $8.00 for set. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) •'HAVE A HEART" Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. OUR BIRO FRIENDS An Educational Game for Home and School A Fine Christmas Gift for Children. Indorsed by the leading Educators, Ornithologists, Scout and Camp Fire Leaders, and Librarians. Fifty-two of our common birds of the summer and winter illustrated and described. Price 50 cents SARAH H. DUDLEY Berlin, Mass. Tlie Packard Bird Food Wins the Winter Birds A balanced ration, it attracts and satisfies them all. By mail, postpaid in New England, elsewhere add postage. 8 pounds for $1.25 Volume VI. JANUARY, 1923 Number 9 Issued Monthly by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Inc. BULLETIN of the MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY PROTECTION OF BIRDS 66 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This Bulletin will chronicle the affairs of the Society from month to month, will report items of interest concerning birds, such as the appearance of rare species locally, will keep its readers informed as to State or Federal legislation and briefly note items of interest about birds throughout the world. Subscription price, one dollar per annum, included in all Sustaining and I,ife Membership fees. The Massachusetts Audubon Society (Founded 1896. Incorporated (1915) Edward Howe Forbush, President Winthrop Packard, Secretary-Treasurer Charles F. Batchelder Mrs. J. L. Bremer Mrs. John L. Gardner Mrs. Augustus Hemenway Mrs. Henry s. Hunnewell Mrs. Endicott Peabody Miss Ellen F. Pendelton Mrs. John C. Phillips Francis H. Allen, Chairman Mrs. Arthur T. Cabot Mrs. John W. Elliot Mrs. Robert B. Greenough Miss Minna B. Hall Mrs. Augustus Hemenway VICE-PRESIDENTS Mrs. Dudley L. Pickman Mrs. J. J. Storrow Mrs. John E. Thayer Miss Mary E. Woolley Sylvester Baxter William Sturgis Bigelow, M. D. George W. Field, Ph. D. W. Cameron Forbes DIRECTORS Miss Harriet E. Richards Dr. Glover M. Allen Arthur C. Bent Rev. Robert F. Cheney Judge Charles F. Jenney Frederic H. Kennard Ralph Hoffman Harris Kennedy Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.D. A. Lawrence Lowell James Arnold Lowell Prof. Edward S. Morse Hon. Herbert Parker Prof. Charles S. Sargent Ralph Lawson Edward L. Parker Dr, John C. Phillips Alexander Pope Dr. Charles W. Townsend William P. Wharton MEMBERSHIP The Society needs $50,000 at least in order to increase its activities. Will you help expand its usefulness? The classes of Membership are Life Members paying not less than $25.00 at one time. Sustaining Members paying $1.00 annually. Junior Members under ten years, paying 10 cents. ADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP our valuable and beautiful Bird Preservation Personal participation in the great work of saving wild birds. Information Advice from competent specialists on the best methods of bird study and bird protection on the home grounds, in sanctuaries or elsewhere, assistance in identification. Reading Room and Exhibition Hall Use at any time of the reading room and exhibition hall at the office, 66 Newbury Street, where bird books, pictures, charts, leaflets and all modern appliances for bird protection are displayed. Bird Lectures The Society gives annually a Course of Lectures, illustrated by stereopticon and moving pictures by the foremost bird specialists of the country. Members have the first opportunity to purchase these tickets at moderate prices. Bird Sanctuary Members and their friends have free use of the Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary for bird study and recreation. Monthly Bulletin All Sustaining and Life Members receive without further expense the Monthly Bulletin, containing information regarding the work of the Society and news (rf interest in the world of bird study and bird protection. Massachusetts Audubon Society 3 HAPPY NEW YEAR The Audubon Society wishes you a happy and prosperous New Year. 1922 has been good to us. Opportunities have increased. They have been met eagerly. The new Sanctuary buildings and grounds have been bought and paid for. Our membership increases rapidly. See the list of new names. We daily find new friends of the work. Somehow, some way, always, funds come to us. We go forward into the New Year cheerfully con- fident. Drop in at 66 Newbury and see our new books and learn our new plans. You will be welcome. ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING The Annual Business Meeting of The Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc., will be held at the office of the Society, 66 Newbury Street, Boston, on Saturday, January 27th, at 3 P. M. All Lii^e and Sustaining Members of the Society are members of the corporation and have voting power? at this meeting. This is official notice to all such, as is required by law. The Annual Reports of the Secretary and Treasurer and of the Auditing and Nominating Committees are made at this meeting. A detailed report of the work and funds of the Society is issued in the February Bulletin of each year. Winthrop Packard, Secretary. VALUABLE BIRD BOOKS The Society has received from the National Association the loan of a shelfful of books, duplicates from the library of the late William Dutcher. Mr. Dutcher was the founder of the National Association of Audubon Societies, a leader in the great bird-protection movement, and an enthusiastic bird student. On his death his extensive and valuable library of bird books came into the possession of the National Association of Audubon Societies, which thus generously shares with the Massachusetts Society. The Society has also received from Mr. Charles W. Warren, of Worcester, the gift of Volumes V and VI of Audubon's "Birds of America," published by the author in 1842. These books add to our service library many rare and valuable volumes of particular interest to bird students. The service library is open to all for consultation at the office of the Society at any time. It contains complete sets of The Auk and Bird-Lore. SAVE THE WOOD DUCK Please write to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and ask him to continue the close season on the wood duck. Here in Massa- chusetts this close season, uniform throughout the country for some years, has been of great benefit. These beautiful birds are coming back; they are not yet in any great numbers, but the situation is distinctly hopeful. This condition is believed to be the same in most Northern States, but we urgently need this same protection for some years more. Now comes a drive on the part of the sportsmen to have an open season on wood duck, and great influ- ence is being brought to bear on the Biological Survey at Washington. Unless the Secretary of Agriculture hears from wide sections of the country that people distinctly want the close season continued he will surely open it. Please write to him and ask others to do so. 4 Massachusetts Audubon Society TREMONT TEMPLE BIRD LECTURES Tickets and the following announcements have been sent to all mem- bers: — The enclosed tickets will call your atlcntion t" the Lecture Course of the Massa- chusetts Audubon Society at Tremont Temple, Saturdays, at 10:30 o'clock, January 20th, 27th, February 3rd and 10th, 1923. Please note carefully the hour and place. These tickets are sent only to members and a few others especially interested in birdi. If you care to use them, please remit the price — $2.50 each; if not, will you not please reniail them to us in the enclosed envelope? NO COURSE TICKETS AT THE DOOR Course tickets will not be sold at the door and we take this liberty that you may have first-hand opportunity to purchase them. More tickets may be obtained at the office, 66 Newbury .Street. Boston, Mass. Single admission at 75(^ may be obtained in the same way. RESERVED SEATS Seats on the floor of the hall (the centre section only) have been reserved, price for the course, includinc: admission, .f4.00. The enclosed admission tickets may be exchanged for Reserved Seat tickets on application at the office of the Audubon .Society, 66 New- bury Street, Boston, and payment of the Reservetl Seat price in person or by mail, sale closing January 13th at 12 M. Reserved Seats for single lectures on sale at the office of the .Society, 66 Newbury Street, on and after Monday. January 15th, at .fl.25 each. January 20th, Dr. A. H. Cordier, of Missouri: ''Adventures in Bird Photography."' Dr. Cordier's especial study is the birds of the great Mississippi Valley. He has had many exciting adventures in this work, and his photographs are wonderfully accurate and unusual in posing and opportunity. Bird Music: Mr. Charles C. Gorst will give his delightful whistling reproductions. January 27th, William L. Finley, of Oregon: "Tide Line to Mountain Top." Rambles of a naturalist with a motion picture camera from the Gulf Coast to the roof of the Rockies. In the Finley motion pictures you live with the birds and animals of desert and wilderness. You not only see rare, shy birds and animals but you see them in the most intimate and unexpected acts of their wild life. The lecture is real college course nature study, but it is like going to the circus at the same time. Bird Music: More delightful reproductions by Mr. Gorst. February 3rd, Robert Cushman Murphy, of the American Museum of Natural His- tory: "The Land of Penguin and Albatross." The golden-collared king penguins are humorous, grotesque, friendly, quaint and most interesting. The great albatross, the '"Ancient Mariner's" bird, and all the other strange and picturesque wild life of the frozen south polar seas are shown in Mr. Murpliy's pictures and made vivid by his story of his adventures in these far seas. Bird Music: Arthur E. Wilson will give whistling reproductions of bird songs. February 10th, Herbert K. Job, of Connecticut : '"Feathered Down-Easters." llnique motion pictures of bird-life from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Gardiner's Island, New York, our feathered friends along shore, also glimpses of intimate friendly relations with birds at Camp. Bird Music: Mr. Edward Avis will give bird songs with whistling and violin solos. The Audubon Bird Lectures are unique in their appeal to nature lovers, bringing into one course the Pacific Coast, the Mississippi Valley, the South polar seas and familiar New England scenes. No expense is spared. Please come; bring your friends, and especially the chil- dren. The day and hour, Saturday at 10:30 A. M., are particularlv convenient for the little folks. MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY, 66 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass. M a s s o c h u s e 1 1 s A u d u ban Society 5 TRANSATLANTIC BIRD-STUDY As the boat swung out of the Hudson, October 19, and I bade good- bye to the Statue of Liberty for a year and a half, I naturally thought that my list of American land birds was completed for the year. I even figured up my total for the month, forgetting for the moment the possibility of see- ing new water birds far out on the ocean. But several surprises were in store for me. The first came cibout the middle of that afternoon, when a pair of pine siskins appeared on deck. Now I had happened to miss these birds during the entire year, and was delighted to add them to the year's list. They were still on board Friday, the 20th, then disappeared. There were more surprises. From time to time we saw little groups of two or three or even more land birds, that came suddenly and unexpectedly out of the unknown, and then perhaps after a brief rest departed as mys- teriously as they had come. These groups included three or more j uncos, a white-throated sparrow, a pine warbler, a cedar waxwing, and a purple finch. A snow bunting came on board October 22, when we were a little more than half away across. Had he come from America or Europe, or perhaps from Iceland or Greenland? For the species is found on both sides of the At- lantic. One junco was still with us that same day. What became of him after that? Did he miraculously reach land, or did he perish in the waves, exhausted by his brave fight against the gale? My best find was a Montana junco, which came on board with the siskins, while we were still south of Long Island on the first day. He was indeed far from home. We positively identified this bird; I may say that my identification was verified in this case, as in others, by a naturalist from the Middle West. And it was not difficult to examine this bird, for like the others he was very tame, and rested close to us. Once or twice a little fel- low settled down at our feet on a steamer chair, and one even perched for a minute on a lady's hat. An American bittern alighted on deck some time early in the voyage, probably Saturday, October 21, although I am not sure of the date, as I did not see him until later. Then he was in a cage on the hurricane deck. The sailors planned to release him in France. Who knows but that this bird may mate with a European cousin and raise a new race to puzzle and confound the scientists? Shall it be called Botaurus franciscus-americanus? Why not? (My Latin may be at fault, for I have no dictionary at hand, but surely no one can object to the sentiment! ) As for water birds, one thinks first, naturally, of the gulls. These were less numerous than I had expected them to be. Of course there were herring gulls around the ship in New York harbor, but not a great many. On Sun- day, the fourth day, when we were off the Grand Banks, quite a few ap- peared. Then we found a few more as we approached the coast of France. I saw one Bonaparte's gull in the river, just as we swung out from the pier; I think I saw another as we came up to the wharf at Havre, but I was not sure of this one. Bonaparte's gull is listed as a possible European bird, although it is not common. There were many kittiwakes near the Banks, and some remained with us for three days. But they were not nearly so numerous as when I crossed the ocean three years ago this fall; then a large number of them were with us throughout the entire voyage. We frequently saw skuas, fulmars, and parasitic jaegers. Fulmars be- came so common that we ceased to pay attention to them. We often saw 6 Massachusetts Audubon Society twenty-five or thirty at a time, all around the ship. They are beautiful birds, and it was a treat to have an opportunity to study them, for I had never seen any before. Thursday, October 26, hundreds of fulmars remained close to the boat all day. The skuas and jaegers were all on the American side of the ocean. I remember the discussion that we had on a Brookline Bird Club trip last winter, when several of us thought we saw a skua off Swampscott. I still believe we were right, although I admit that I did not see the white spots on the wings, which were so conspicuous on the birds that we saw from the boat. Wilson's petrels were, of course, numerous during most of the voyage, especially during the first half. And on one day, at least, Sunday the 22d, there were some Leach's petrels. I should have been skeptical about this bird, for it is difficult to tell, merely from watching petrels fly, close to the water, whether the tail is square or forked. But I held three in my hand and examined them closely. They had flown on to the deck in the evening, attracted, no doubt, by the light, and were presumably helpless until we threw them over the side to fly again. There were a few dovekies and razor-billed auks, but not so many as 1 had expected to see. Then October 28, the last day, as we approached the French coast, puffins became more and more numerous; we even saw several flocks of a dozen or so at a time. These were really French birds, but as the same species is found on both sides of the ocean, I might have included them in my list of American birds, had I not already seen one last winter. (No, I should not claim them for my Massachusetts list!) Another American species living also in Europe is the gannet; about ten of these beautiful birds hovered around the boat for several hours on the next to the last day. And the red-throated diver that we saw in the harbor Saturday differs only in name from our red-throated loon. Other European birds appeared as we skirted the coast of Brittany and finally came to the dock at Havre; common scoters, lesser black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, and even one common gull; the last bears this name, in England, I suppose, because he is less coiumon than almost any other variety; that is the English way of doing things. But that is another story. Our trip was at an end, and at last we closed the list for American birds, unless we wish to include the starlings in the Paris parks; or unless, perchance, we stumble on to some horned larks when we go into the country. L. R. Talbot. Paris, November 10, 1922. BIRD BANDING Bird banders that were busy last winter trapping winter visitors and migrants are waiting anxiously for the cold weather to send along the tree sparrows, chickadees, purple finches and other Northern species that winter in New England. Mr. Aaron C. Bagg of Holyoke, Mass., has made the first return. Last year between February 11th and March 24th he banded 55 tree sparrows about his home. This year on December 4th he noted two about his trap and observed that they both wore bands. One entered and was taken. Upon examination it proved to be one of last year's visitors. The significant fact is that this bird returned to winter in the same spot this year that it did last season. Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 Records of the New England Bird Banding Association to date show the following: Between four and five thousand birds banded, representing ninety-five species. Some of the uncommon ones are black crowned night heron, roseate tern, purple finch, white-throated sparrow, scaup duck, wood- cock, spotted sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper, hummingbird, wood pewee, prairie horned lark, Henslow's sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, white crowned sparrow, sharp-tailed sparrow, blue-headed ives, magnolia warbler, brown creeper, blue-winged warbler, ruby-crowned kinglet, Leach's petrel. The song-sparrow heads the list, followed by the robin and then the chip- ping sparrow. William E. Smith of South Chatham, Mass., banded over one hundred common and roseate terns, fledgings, and, while on a trip to New Bruns- wick on the steamer Governor Dingley, he banded a song sparrow which flew on board when the boat was thirty miles off Portland and released it next day at Lubec, Maine. Mr. R. F. Middleton, Jeffersonville, Pa., noted that a song sparrow he banded on May 6th, number 12420, had no tail. On June 6th the bird re- turned to his trap and its tail was fully grown. Charles B. Floyd. BIRD SANCTUARIES Have you a Bird Sanctuary in your town? It is not a difficult thing to arrange. Once a small boy wrote a composition on a Sanctuary as follows: "You tie some suet to a tree, you put a dish of water on the ground and you scare the cat away. That is a bird sanctuary." It is not so bad a definition of a bird sanctuary reduced to its lowest terms. The tree for nesting and shelter, the food and water and safety from enemies, are the first requisites of a bird sanctuary. Beyond these we may go far, but without them no place can be a sanctuary for a bird. Such an area should be provided in every town. It should contain trees and shrubbery tangles, some open ground and, if possible, running water. The larger the area the better, but a small acreage well furnished and well guarded is better than a large one not so furnished and guarded. A model sanctuary is the fenced ten-acre lot of the Connecticut Audubon Society at Fairfield, Connecticut. This was established and endowed by a wealthy Connecticut bird lover who takes great and justifiable pride in it. On the other hand, the Audubon Wild Life Sanctuary of the National Asso- ciation at Amston, Connecticut, comprises a whole town. Making the whole town a bird sanctuary is a Florida idea. It is a good one. In the Massa- chusetts Audubon Society's bird sanctuary at Sharon, Mass., a total of nearly one thousand acres is guarded, the sanctuary proper being a forty-five acre tract in the heart of this area. This is maintained as an exhibition sanctuary where those who control large acreage may see the best methods in bird protection in actual use. Thousands visit it yearly for this purpose. Just because we cannot start in a large way we must not be discouraged. On a city houselot in Springfield, Mass., Mr. Charles J. Anderson has a very successful bird sanctuary. On this in 1922 eight species nested and thirty-four young birds matured. The fame and influence of this successful sanctuary and the good work done there has gone far. Because of it there is an increased local interest, bird classes are conducted, and Mr. Anderson is frequently called upon to explain his work before interested organizations. Even a small sanctuary, almost as small, perhaps, as the one the boy wrote about, is better than none. Can you not devise a plan for one in your town? S Massachusetts Audubon Society Life Members Received November 24, 1922 - December 21, 1922 Borden, Miss Lizbeth A Fall River Hunt, E. B 216 Lowell St., Peabody Parker. Walter E 217 Haverhill .St.. Lawrence Phillips, W. Enos (^atauniet Kunels, Henry 133 Princeton St., Lowell .Sohier, Miss Elizabeth P 79 Beacon St., Boston Sustaining Members Received November 24, 1922 - December 21, 1922 Abbott, Charles E 301 Nehoiden St., Needham Albro, Frank R 288 Lincoln Ave., Fall River Aklrich, Mrs. N. B 587 June St., Fall River Allen, Mrs. Beatrice R 609 Commonwealth Ave., Boston Austin, Mrs. Nellie M 5 Court St., Somersworth, N. H. Habijitt, Miss Ina F Hudson Bean, Miss Mary E .500 Lowell St., Lawrence Beardwood, Mrs. Olive Peabody 18 Richfield St., Boston Blandin, Mrs. Bertha H Lancaster, N. H. Bosson, A. C State Street Trust Company, Boston Bourne, Miss Emma T 26 Arnold Place, New Bedford Brush, Edward C 9 Hewes St., Brookline Chaffee, Miss Mary L 3 View St., Franklin Park Chaffin, Miss Emma F 10 Oak St., Fitchburg Chase, Miss Sarah E 530 Pine St., Fall River Chauvent, Miss Annie L. A 101 Chestnut St., Boston Childs, Miss Marguerite Deerfield Clark, Mrs. Mary A 7 Market St., Ipswich Clark, Philip M Lexington Clark, Mrs. Philip M Lexington Clement, Hazen 70 State St., Boston CJute, Alexander M 903 South St., Roslindale Cole, Miss Leona A Creenville Junction, Maine Coulter, Miss Annie M 6 Cedar St., Clinton Cowles, W. L Amherst Cross, Miss Ethelyn L. M 28 Claflin .St., Milford Crossman, Carl A 568 N. Union St.. E. Bridgewater CroweU, Miss A. C 37 Pelham St., Methuen Curtiss, Mrs. H. M Milford Dockham, Miss Blanche 2 Lakecroft Court, Melrose Douglass, Miss Mabelle F. A 49 Bowdoin St., Newton Highlands Dow, Mrs. Flora W Reading, Vermont Dudley, Mrs. Jennie .S 13 Crove St., Augusta, Maine Dudley, W. J Candia. N. H. Dwight, Miss Ellen S 1010 Massachusetts Ave.. Cambridge Dwight, Miss Laura M 22 Leighton St., Wellesley Eniilio, S. Gilbert 156 Hobart St., Danvers Eveleth, Frederic B Windsor Locks, Conn. Farmer, Miss Nellie H 43 Whittier St., Andover Farnum, Miss Alice R 9 Durham St., Boston Fenno, Mrs. Frederick W 116 Central Ave., Hyde Park Field, Miss Florence M 54 Winter St., Norwood Fiske, Mrs. Henry G 62 Walnut St., Natick Flint, Mrs. Roger 15 Victoria Circle, Newton Centre Eraser, Miss Isabel J 5.33 Hancock St.. Fall River Gardner, Frederick M 29 Shore Drive, Winthrop Gardner, Mrs. Frederick M 29 Shore Drive, Winthrop Garland, James P .Saco, Maine Gilmore, Mrs. E. J 52 Clark Road, Lowell Goddard, Miss Jessie A 50 Park Ave., Newton Colbert, Miss Nellie M 31 Ames Place, Marlboro Gow, Mrs. John L 106 Elm St., Quincy Gunn, Miss Mary I Uxbridge Massachusetts Audubon Society Hadaway, C. S 1ft Tucker St., Milton Hall, Irving G Greenbush Hart. Parker T S7 Logan Ave., Medford Haskell, Miss Emily W 17 Aborn Ave., Wakefield Hayden, Miss Rosalina B Bedford Springs Havnes, Edmund B 19 Congress St.. Boston Hinkle, Mrs. C. M Osterville Holden. George F 280 Park St., West Roxbury Howard, Miss Marian S LS Leigbton Road, Wellesley Howe, Mrs. Mary E 11 State St., Worcester Hubbard, C. A .S6 Locbstead Ave., Jamaica Plain Jackson, Mrs. J. Holmes 258 S. Willard St., Burlington, Vt. Jamieson, Mrs. J. B., Jr 93 Homer St.. Newton Centre Jewett, Miss Harriet Leonard 35 Vine St., Haverhill Jones, William 277 W. Elm .St., Brockton Kelly. Arthur W 91 Central St., Auburndale Kendrick, Dean Amherst Lane, Miss Georgiana Gushing 174 President's Lane, Quincy Langley, Mrs. Bessie C 815 Centre .St., Jamaica Plain Lawrence. William D 62 Thorndike .St., Lawrence Lawton, Mrs. Clara P New Bedford Leaniey, Mrs. John B 26 Grove St., Natick Leith, Donald M Concord Lewis, Miss Mabel J 73 Moore Ave., Worcester Lindsay, Mrs. Mary R 4 Avon St., Cambridge Linsley, Miss Sophia J 3.53 S. Main St., Wallingford, Conn. Lothrop, Mrs. Caleb Cohasset Lowell, William P Newburyporl McConnel, Mrs. C. W 83 Park St., Bn.okline McDaniels, Mrs. Walter H 3 Craigie Circle, Cambridge MacFadden, Shannon N Leominster Hospital. Leominster Mansfield, Mrs. F. H 18 Tremlett St.. Dorchester Centre Melzer, James P Milford, N. H. Miller, Miss Katharine P Wentworth, N. H. Montague, David T Tremont Bldg.. Boston Moore, Miss Anna M .58 Wachusett St., Worcester Morrill, Mrs. Clara A Strafford, Vt. Morrison, Miss Mary Gardiner 27 Waverley St., Brookline Morse, Mrs. Clara H 542 High St., West Medford Morse, Miss Sadie May 11 Hancock Ave., Lexington Mumpoting, Miss Louise 468 School St., Belmont Nichols, Mrs. Elizabeth B 267 Cherry St.. Fall River Noble, A. P 287 Lafayette St., -Salem Nutter, George R 8 W. Cedar St., Boston Ormerod, Jonathan P. O. Box 734, Providence. R. L Page, Miss Harriet A Winchester Page, Newell C Winchester Palmateer, Mrs. Hazel B 25 Davis St., Mansfield Peabody, Philip G 18 Richfield -St., Boston Peck, Mrs. R. G The Oakland, Washington. D. C. Perkins, Benjamin B 1 Emmons Road, West Roxbury Perkins, Mrs. C. H 18 Cole St., Lakeport. N. H. Phippen, Joshua Winchester Pierce. Charles Eliot and Roger, Jr \dams St., Milton Phts. Miss Alice S 1.30 Phillips St., Wollaston Plaisted, Miss Rose 182 Cedar St., Bangor, Maine Pope, Miss Gussie M 1 Ford Beach, North Weymouth Powers, Mrs. S. L 95 Arlington St., Newton Read. Mrs. B. B 707 Highland Ave., Fall River Read, Miss Ella H 404 County St.. New Bedford Reed. Fred M 29 Tremont St.. New Bedford Remington. Mrs. J. Augustus .39 Washington Park, Newtonville Reynolds, Miss Madeline 41 Kirkland St., Cambridge Reynolds, Ralph W 52 Underwood St., Fall River 10 Massachusetts Audubon Society Richardson, Mrs. John, Jr Readville Robinson, Mrs. F. R 1875 Commonwealth Ave., Boston Rogers, Mrs. W. F 50 Pleasant St., Braintree Root, Miss Anne Concord Rust, Miss Sarah H 259 Newbury St., Boston Sands, Mrs. C. L 132 Cedar St., Fitchburg Sargent, R. Franklyn 105 Exeter St., Lawrence Scribner, Miss Marion 46 Plymouth Road, Maiden Shaw, Miss Emma K 140 Cottage St., New Bedford Smith, Charles F 12 Parker St., Newburyport Smith, Miss Esther W Andover Smith. Hardy Onset Stevens, Mrs. George E 11 Park St., Haverhill Sullivan. Patrick 314 Cory St., Fall River Tarbell, G. W 35 Garland St., Bangor, Me. Thayer. Miss Annie Ray Franklin Thompson. Mrs. F. L 63 South Pleasant St.. Amherst Thompson, H. W 82 Beacon St.. Hartford, Conn. Thorpe. Mrs. John V 183 Maple St.. Fall River Tripp. Benjamin T 46 Cornhill St., Boston Turner. Miss Nellie B 98 Court St., Newtonville Verv, Nathaniel T 96 Bridge St., Salem Walker, C. William 84 Chester Ave., Chelsea Warner, Frederick W Wethersfield, Conn. Warner. Mrs. Julia A Hotel Margaret. 97 Columbia Heights, Brook- lyn, N. Y. Weld, C. R Rock Wheeler, H. A Berlin White, Miss Mary W 19 Walnut St., Gardner Whitney, Miss Lucy A 274 Park Ave.. Arlington Heights Whittemore, E. H 96 Cedar St., Fitchburg Wing, William A 24 South 6th St., New Bedford Winslow, Francis Norwood Wood. Frank H Fremont, N. H. Woodman, Mrs. Avis J 242 Rock St.. Fall River LEGACIES Sums donated by will to the Society are placed in the Reserve Fund of the Society, a use of the money which has peculiar value because of its per- manence. The altruistic work of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, carried on for many years with increasing success, suggests the desirability of remem- bering it in this fashion. All the funds of the Society are handled carefully and conservatively, but the Reserve Fund, in the exclusive control of the Board of Directors, is especially worthy of consideration of testators who wish to make legacies of lasting usefulness. There will always be need of organized work for bird protection, a form of conservation of the greatest importance to the general welfare. The Reserve Fund of the Society, when of sufficient size, will insure this. Can you not help in this way? FORM OF BEQUEST / give and bequeath to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Incor- porated, the sum of Dollars for its Reserve Fund. Massachusetts Audubon Society 11 BIRD LIFE ON ALBERT LEA LAKE By Dr. J. R. Nannestad (Reprinted from the Official Bulletin of the Minnesota Game and Fish Department) Birds are learning to read. It's a fact. For the first time within the memory of game birds this notice was stuck on the shores of Lower Lake: "Game refuge. No hunting allowed." The birds read it and chuckled. For the first time in their life they could rest in peace. No one can tell me that ducks cannot read. If you do not believe it just take your car and drive slowly along the banks of Lower Lake. There is a bird life the equal of which no one can remember unless we go back to the pioneer days of the state. Tourists following the Jefferson Highway stop their cars and get out in the road to look at the beautiful sight of thousands of birds peacefully swimming about on the lake. Many of the tourists get the cameras out and take a shot at the birds — the onlv shot which the state allows anybody to take at them. There is no bag limit. You can shoot as many as you wish. The more the merrier. And the beauty of it is that the next fellow can shoot the same birds. No one can hog the game. The only trouble is that some tourists get so excited over the beautiful sight that they hog the road. Time and time again the road is blocked by sightseers. There is quite a variety of ducks which have taken up their homestead on the Lower Lake this year. And they are a constant delight to those who are able to tell them apart. There are Mallards, Widgeons, Teal, Gulls, Coots, Blue Bills, Wood Ducks, Snipes and others. So far I have not seen any geese. The geese have not yet seen the notices posted along the lake. But they will come in time. They used to be just as thick on our lakes as the ducks. In olden times the farmers used to take wild goose eggs and hatch them on the farm. That was before the hunter had driven them out of the country. Neither have I seen any swans. They too may come here in course of, time. One flock of geese was seen to light on Bear Lake this year. They received a volley of shots as a welcome. They lit in the wrong lake. Nat- urally they did not stay. The Lower Lake is an immense success as a game refuge. It is a success to such an extent that the birds have to be fed by man. There is no fund for this purpose but screenings and corn have been donated by Speltz Bros., Bungarden & Donovan and the Albert Lea Mills — not to forget our faithful game warden, Mr. Turnbull. A number of local landowners too are feeding the birds. The game refuge is a success even from the hunter's standpoint. If it were not for the Lower Lake there would be no ducks to shoot on the other lakes in the county. The birds fly over from Albert Lea Lake to other lakes. These are the birds who have not yet learned to read. They will learn. THE AUDUBON BIRD CHARTS The Audubon Bird Cherts are invaluable for school and family use. There is no better way to familiarize children with the appear- ance of our common birds than by the means of these charts. Hung on the wall, where they are never out of sight, they attract attention by their beauty and are a* constant invitation to examination and study. They show the birds in life size and in characteristic attitudes and natural colors; and are a practical help in nature study and drawing. They are both useful and decorative for schoolrooms, nurseries, and public and private libraries. Lithographed and mounted on cloth, size, 27 x 42 inches. These charts should be hung in every schoolroom and public Library. Price of each Chart, $2.50. Send all orders to THE MASSACHUSETl S AUDUBON SOCIETY 66 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass. BERT'S BIRDHOUSKS FIFTEEN SXYLES TO CHOOSE FROM Send for Catalogue BERT C. TEBBETTS, Brookville, Mass. 3 Rustic Cedar Bird Houses for $5.00 and parcel post charges (21c to Mass.) " HAVE A HEART " Feeder com- bining Suet Holder and Grain Feeder. In Summer it makes a splendid robin shelf. Price $2.50. Crescent Sparrow Trap (Pat. 1393438). Price $5.00, Parcel Post to Mass. 18c. CRESCENT CO. "BIRDSVILLE." TOM'S RIVER P. O.. N. J. FEED THE BIRDS The Packai'd Auto7natic Food House Keeps the food dry; feeds automatically; avoids waste; lasts years; weighs a poimd-and-a-half ; holds a quart and cost 75c. TWO FOR $1.25 - - WHY PAY MORE ' By mail postpaid in New Engfland; elsewhere add postage SPECIAL MIXTURE BIRD FOOD A balanced ration full of Roasted Peanuts, note the appetizin? odor. The birds love it. Best for the birds, best for use in the food-house. 8 lbs. for $1.25, postpaid in New Knffland. Elsewhere add postage. Address: WINTHROP PACKARD, Canton, Mass. CO 0> 5» - §■ (B <» d- d-