Various

“ Other destroyers of birds are the Great American Egg Hogs—the imitation naturalists who cover up their crimes with a veil they call science. These might be divided into two classes; those who collect for mercenary purposes and those who collect simply to amass a great variety of 38 birds and eggs. Then we find a sub-class, those who are always collecting and have not time to study just then, but expect to do that after awhile. Why it is that these persons collect so many birds and eggs of the same species is a mystery. ”

“ Thus by awakening the farmer to his own interests, securing needful laws, and with a never-ceasing warfare against the 40 pseudo-naturalists and English Sparrow, we may in time hope to recall to their own homes, our favorite friends, the pursued and persecuted birds. As they return to our door yards and take up life as in the days of yore, we will become better acquainted and realize more fully their great mission in this world. ”

“ Finally, I would say that the only way to preserve our birds is to present facts to the people showing them the true character of each bird. They can then distinguish how the birds should be treated, protecting their friends and destroying their enemies. ”

“ Wholesale dealers count one hundred birds to the bushel. This would make seventy-five thousand bushels, or more than enough to fill ninety-three box cars. It is difficult for the mind to conceive of such vast numbers of birds, and to think that they are used for what seems to us, a worse than useless purpose. But what arouses the greatest indignation in the lover of birds, is to see these same feather-bedecked women go to Sunday School, get up before a class of boys or girls and say, “You mustn’t rob birds’ nests, because it is wicked and only bad boys do that.” ”

“ The Pintail, the subject of our frontispiece, is an early migrant, but unlike the greater number of the ducks which migrate first it does not nest exclusively in the far northwest. It is a common breeder at Heron Lake, Minn., and at Spirit Lake, Iowa, and has been known to nest in portions of Illinois. The Wood Duck is a summer resident throughout the Mississippi Valley. The Red-head is a common migrant, its range being almost identical with that of the Pintail. ”

“ The fish-eating ducks have three representatives, the American, Red-breasted, and Hooded Mergansers, all of which I have seen in Franklin county. The American Merganser winters south and nests north, passing through Iowa as a migrant, one of the earliest. The Red-breasted Merganser is said to be an occasional winter resident in favored portions of the state, but is more common as a migrant. The Hooded Merganser is a hardier species than the former, wintering further north, though not frequently in Iowa, owing to the freezing of almost all the water courses. ”

“ The next and most difficult question to solve is how to convince the farmer that he is injuring himself every time he kills an owl or robin or the other birds that he probably believes to be his enemies. ”

“ That is all right for colleges and museums, where there are many persons to examine the specimens, but not for the private collector. I am afraid that the worthy gentleman himself would soon object if each of the several thousand collectors in the United States would follow his advice. It is difficult to see how he expects to advance science so much more by his one hundred stuffed birds than by the student who goes out and takes notes from life. ”

“ Savage reports one pair, who, when robbed of their treasures, presumably by the Blue Jays, tore the old nest to pieces and rebuilt in a tree only six feet from the door of his office and fifteen feet up. He finds one pair every year breeding in a grove of about two acres near the house. He notes, though, that even so close a proximity to the dwelling of man does not free the species from the “piratical tyranny of the Kingbird.”
Mr. Woods finds “four rosy eggs” to be the usual complement, and that they average larger than those of the Red-eye and Warbling. ”

“ It is a more numerous migrant than summer resident; but is not rare by any means during the breeding season, being reported as “common” or “abundant” by nearly all who mention the numbers found through the period of nidification. Assuming all those who reported on the species to be equally versed in our favorite science, the numbers vary considerably with locality. Most likely this is due to the topography of the country in question.
The nest is pensile—a trite statement to most lovers of birds, 41 yet new to some of our readers perhaps—and is a beautiful and interesting structure. ”

“ To prevent or rather change the fashion for wearing birds, some advocate legislative action against hats trimmed with feathers. It is a question in my mind whether such a course would prove feasible, for the ladies have as much right to use the birds that way as some of our collectors have to hoard them away in their cabinets. It is quite generally agreed that the only way is to appeal to the better nature of the ladies and trust them to put away the fashion and take up something more in keeping with the close of the nineteenth century. ”

“ One pair of birds from March 15th to October 1st, rears two broods or ten birds. Each bird eats thirty insects an hour eight hours a day. The gentleman then finds the entire number of insects destroyed and estimates that if they were permitted to live, each one would do one-thousandth of a cent damage to fruit, grain or lumber. Allowing one and a half pair of birds for every square mile in the state, would make a saving of over three and one-fourth million dollars.
I have dealt with only a few species, but have tried to select those that deal with the entire feathered tribe. ”

“ Now the more birds that are killed, the greater becomes the damage done by vermin, and it is plain to be seen that if the birds were allowed to multiply it would not be long before they would save to the United States this four hundred million dollars. Would not this be a benefit?
Concerning the usefulness of birds many persons, especially culturists, seem to have erroneous ideas. Every farmer keeps one or more cats to rid his buildings of rats and mice, and he willingly compensates them for their services by giving them a liberal supply of food ”

“ I do not know how to prevent the hawks from taking toll for their work, but if the farmers would build respectable chicken-coops, they would not be troubled with owls, for they being nocturnal are not out until the chickens have gone to roost and it is only the farmer who allows his poultry to sleep in trees that suffers, and we might say in the words of the small boy, “It’s just good enough for him.” ”

“ Probably there is no paper in America that is doing more to popularize science and to interest the general public in scientific knowledge, than this journal. We do not hesitate to recommend it to any one who desires to keep abreast with the discoveries and news in the scientific world. ”

“ I am sure that nearly everyone enjoys listening to the song birds, but here in America we often do not consider the beauty of anything or the pleasure it furnishes, as much as the dollars and cents it produces or saves. So the first thing to be decided is, are birds, financially speaking, beneficial? A recent number of the Youth’s Companion had an article on the protection of birds. It says “We have thirty species of insects which subsist on our common garden vegetables and our apple orchards have fifty kinds of insect enemies.” ”

“ The Least Tern, while chiefly coastwise in its habitat, is occasionally found in various parts of the Mississippi Valley. I do not know at what place nor at what season specimens have been taken in Iowa, but Mr. Allen names it in his list. The Black Tern is the most common of the class with us as a summer resident.
Of the Steganopodes there are two species. The Double-crested Cormorant winters south and is common during migrations. I have taken several specimens in Franklin county. The American White Pelican winters in the gulf states and passes through Iowa to its breeding place in the north. ”

“ Law reports one from Dallas county in a hazel bush one foot up. Others mentioned are “in hickory tree fourteen and one-half feet up;” “an oak, twenty-five feet up;” “near the 45 top of a high tree;” “in burr-oak tree twenty feet from the ground;” “ten to fifteen feet up.” “The nest,” says Mr. Peck, “is a beautiful structure. It is covered with lichens much like a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher’s, and is very hard to find.”
Mr. Anderson mentions a nest composed of dry grass, cottony substances, thin pieces of bark and moss, and almost covered with bits of newspaper in two languages ”

“ Of course we have no statistics to show the number of birds that the sparrow destroys, but it is evident to the observer that unless war is declared against him, we must say good-bye to many of our native songsters. ”

“ A limited number might be a good thing, but surely their introduction has proved a case where “remedy is worse than disease.” A few years ago these birds were sold for four dollars a pair, and now I do not know but what one could be supplied with them at four cents a pair, so rapidly have 37 they increased. These foreigners are of such a quarrelsome and pugnacious nature that the native songsters have had to retreat from place to place before them. And now our feathered friends are far from their favorite haunts, and greatly reduced in numbers ”

“ We cannot tell about the character or habits of a person by examining his body after he is dead and embalmed, yet it is by preserved specimens of birds that the worthy gentleman attempts to work. What is needed is more students and less collectors. ”

“ All that can be gleaned from the reports about the nest itself, is that it is pensile, cup-shaped and lined with fine grass. The nest in the prairie groves of Buena Vista county is generally composed of coarse grass and bark strips, very neat though rather rough on outside, and is lined with down from the seed of the cottonwood tree.
Mr. Brown finds that the species seems to prefer the vicinity of towns in migrations, but of groves and open woods for breeding. Mr. ”

“ The new edition includes numerous additions and nomenclatural changes made since the publication of the first, together with a revision of the “habitats” of the species and sub-species, but omitting the Code of Nomenclature, which was published separately in 1892. It is expected that the new Check-list will remain without another edition for at least ten years. It should be in the hands of every ornithologist.
“The Popular Science News” for January is much improved and enlarged. This magazine fills a special field ”