NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Birds Beautifying Cemeteries

Some time ago, the Secretary happened to visit a suburban cemetery, where landscape-gardening and sculptural art had done what they could to make the scene beautiful and comforting, but he was impressed by the absence of singing birds. Alien Sparrows were chattering, and the gurgling of a Grackle was heard in the distance, but none of the sweet voices and pretty forms of the native birds charmed the ear or gladdened the eye of a visitor. This seemed strange, for the varied trees and shrubbery, with sunny spaces among them, quiet and guarded against noisy intrusion, would be exceedingly attractive and favorable to bird-life; and it occurred to him that in no place would an invitation to the birds to make themselves at home in summer be so likely to be accepted; nor could anything be more appropriate than their cheerful presence. They will prove useful, too.

These thoughts induced him to write a brief essay, entitled “Cemeteries as Bird-Sanctuaries,” which has been published by the National Association as Circular No. 2, and distributed to many persons likely to be interested. The response has been most encouraging. Associations and individuals all over the country have written for this circular, and are taking measures to furnish cemeteries with shelters, nesting-boxes and feeding-stations for birds under instruction from the Association. The great Forest Lawn Cemetery near Omaha, for example, is putting up 100 nest-boxes as a beginning. The Rosehill Cemetery and others about Chicago are undertaking similar enterprises, and the Cemetery Beautifying Association of San Francisco is planning this addition to its methods of making more attractive the resting-place of the dead. Blue Bird announces that the Lake View Cemetery at Cleveland, Ohio, will erect many feeding-tables and nest-boxes, in its grounds. The matter has been taken up by the Lexington Kentucky Audubon Society. Other instances might be mentioned.

It is greatly to be hoped that many others will follow their example. The movement we think is worth while, for the sake of humanity as well as for the birds.

The Oregon Audubon Society

The Oregon Audubon Society has recently established headquarters in the Young Men’s Christian Association building, in Portland. The room occupied by the Society has been tastefully decorated with pictures, and contains cabinets of specimens for study. It is planned to give lectures regularly on Saturday evenings.

Mr. William L. Finley, President of the Society, and the Pacific Coast field-agent for the National Association, in company with Mrs. Finley, has this spring been spending several weeks in the East, where he has been constantly engaged in giving lectures illustrated with moving pictures of sea-birds, Sage Grouse, sea-lions, cougars, black bears, antelopes, and other interesting forms of western wild life.

Work Along Columbia River

The Federation of Women’s Clubs in the State of Washington has been notable among such organizations for that practical interest in bird-life which arises from an appreciation of their usefulness as well as their beauty. It has recently testified to this most substantially by becoming a member of this Association. Last year, and to a less extent in the previous year, the Federation was represented largely at the State Fair by an exhibition that was called the “Bird Court,” in which all sorts of ornithological things were displayed to great advantage. The success of these exhibitions was due largely to the wisdom and energy of Mrs. G. R. Pike, of North Yakima, who has been indefatigable in her efforts to spread the study of birds in the schools. She has been traveling and lecturing throughout the state for some time, under the auspices of the State Federation, which has supported this agency generously. The National Association has coöperated in all these matters, and feels that it is abundantly rewarded by results. It has now enabled Mrs. Pike to extend her work, and it anticipates still larger results in the organization of Junior Classes, and in the stimulation of a general interest in the cause throughout the Columbia Valley.

Feather Importation In Canada

It may not be generally known to the readers of Bird-Lore that, immediately following the passage of the Tariff Act in Washington, on October 3, 1913, which prohibited the importation of feathers to this country, the Canadian Parliament, largely through the efforts of Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, passed a somewhat similar measure. The Canadian law prohibits the importation of:

“Aigrettes, Egret plumes, or so-called Osprey plumes, and the feathers, quills, heads, wings, tails, skins, or parts of skins, of wild birds, either raw or manufactured; but this provision shall not come into effect until January 1, 1915, and shall not apply to the feathers or plumes of Ostriches; the plumage of the English Pheasant and the Indian Peacock; the plumage of wild birds ordinarily used as articles of diet; the plumage of birds imported alive, nor to specimens imported under regulations of the Minister of Customs for any natural-history or other museum, or for educational purposes.”

Allan Brooks a Soldier

Allan Brooks, the artist, many of whose colored pictures of birds have appeared in Bird-Lore, is with the English Army “somewhere in France.” In the summer of 1915 he wrote the office that he would not be able to do further work for the Association for some time, as he was going to Europe to study. Almost immediately after his arrival in England war broke out. He at once returned to Canada and enlisted in a company at his home in British Columbia. He has been promoted from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Captain. Last December, when Captain Brooks had attained the distinction of the longest continuous trench service of any officer of the Canadian army, he was offered a more restful position behind the lines, but he declined it.

In a letter received by one of his friends a short time ago he stated that he had thus far escaped injury with the exception of deafness in one ear, as a result of a shell-explosion; and that, if he survived the war, he would return to America and hoped to paint better pictures than before.

Deer-Killing Dogs

A lady writes from a village in northern New York of the evil of loose dogs in rural communities; and of her care for winter-birds:

“On Sunday morning, January 23, two dogs chased a deer (a young doe), that strayed down from the mountains, and attacked it most viciously until it sank exhausted and wounded on the grounds of the summer home of the church of the Heavenly Rest, of which my husband is gardener and caretaker. He and my son rescued the deer from the dogs, and a neighbor notified the supervisor, who gave permission for its removal to a barn, awaiting the arrival of the game warden. My three children are members of the Audubon Society, and are greatly interested in all wild things. They are heart-broken about the deer, and we try to protect everything wild that comes our way. We have many wild birds around our house, which we coaxed around by putting little houses in the branches of nearby trees, and putting crumbs and scraps in them. We also fixed some branches of hemlock on the windowsill of our dining-room, on which my husband ties pieces of suet, doughnut, bones, and pieces of a pudding I make especially for them, of suet, currants, raisins, bread-crumbs, and scraps of meat; and oh, how they enjoy it!”—Mrs. John W. Payne.

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J. Horace McFarland Company, Mt. Pleasant Press, Harrisburg, Pa.

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