of a retreating brook-channel at freshet-time, can forget the feeling of the earth, of the air, and the scent of spring which everywhere abounds? No other days. are like these days of budding leaves and drying soil. It is a glorious time, not only to be outdoors, but to be outside self. It is a revelation of a new kind of kinship to plant a tree and to welcome the return of the birds-a kinship with Nature. But the real spirit of spring must go with the planting and the welcome; otherwise the observance of Bird and Arbor Day will become a tiresome repetition of a once novel idea. Viewed in this light, it becomes a large but pleasant task to instruct our boys and girls how to meet spring with open hands and hearts. What work more attractive or more full of joy could Audubon Societies take part in than this one of interpreting the true meaning of Bird and Arbor Day! Busy teachers and restless pupils would both appreciate the coöperation of bird-students and nature-lovers in this spring-festival season. Will you not all make some definite attempt to observe Bird and Arbor Day more in the spirit of spring? Will you not make an attempt to observe it together in the school-grounds and public parks of our land, or better yet, in the woods and fields of the open? Will you not strive to attach more significance to the great idea which was the reason for the appointment of this day, the preservation and conservation of Nature?-A. H. W. JUNIOR AUDUBON WORK Exercise XIV: Correlated Studies, Reading, Elementary Agriculture, and Geography "Look at this beautiful world, and read the truth In her fair page; see every season brings New change to her of everlasting youth Still the green soil with joyous living things Swarms the wide air is full of joyous wings."-Bryant. As the wild winds of March tear the tree-tops and rush the melting snows of February down the hillsides into swollen brooks and channels, we feel the hope of springtime rising high in our breasts. There may be more storms ahead, but they cannot last long, for the great sun stays with us more and more each day, and neither snow nor wintry storms can brave the heat of its life-giving power. Jack Frost must stop playing with the temperature now, dropping it to the nipping point for the last time. The ice will break up in the rivers, rushing headlong down stream, and it will soon melt, too, from our streets and crackling ponds. But this is not life, only a preparation for life. It is perhaps not joyous to many, only the sign of coming joyousness. Still there is far more life in late February and March than one uninitiated in the truths of Nature might suspect; while April brings myriads of creatures we ought to know by sight or sound, or some kindred sense. The early bluebird, the skunk-cabbage and honey-bee are a few of the forms of life that greet the observant eye. If a wave of sunlight breaks the chill of the air, an occasional "mourning cloak" butterfly may appear. In grassland, woodland, and plowed fields, hordes of insects are about to hatch from winter eggs, crawl forth from hibernating refuges or to emerge from snugly hidden pupa, which have survived the coldest weather, housed in the earth, under roots or in sheltered nooks. To check this winged army of destruction, other winged hosts are advancing from the distant Southland, our migratory birds, whose coming brings the joyous certainty of spring. How wonderful it is that just as leaves and buds are swelling and unfolding, and insects in countless numbers are finding their way to the open, the birds should arrive in a feathered multitude to swell the ranks of living things. There is a reason for this, a law of nature, if we could understand it, that governs the migratory movements of birds. There is a special work for birds to do in nature, and, with almost clocklike regularity, they journey north exactly at the time when this work is ready to be done. (Cmp. Bird-Lore Vol. XIII, No. 3, p. 160.) Perhaps you have never thought of birds as workers. Watch them, and see how much they do in a day, or even in an hour. Their chief work is to get food for themselves and their nestlings, and, in doing this, they eat not only seeds and small animals, but also thousands and thousands of insects, which would otherwise spread over the earth, devouring vegetation with frightful rapidity. If man had never tried to change the ways of Nature by cutting off forests, draining and plowing up large tracts of land to plant to special crops, if he had never brought into our country seeds and trees and insects and animals from across the ocean, it might be easier to study the natural habits of birds, and to judge exactly what the results of these habits are. We have already learned that birds are fitted with tools which enable them to crack seeds of nearly all kinds, to dig beneath the bark of trees, to probe in the earth, to scoop through the air and water, in short, to hunt for food in an almost endless variety of ways and places. Since they are, on the whole, quick to discover new kinds of food as well as new kinds of nesting-sites, we call them easily adaptable to the changing conditions of wild and cultivated Nature. An illustration of the adaptability of birds to a new food-supply which is now found in the north-eastern United States is shown in connection with the gipsy and brown-tail moths, introduced insects whose yearly devastations cost us many thousands of dollars. The Downy Woodpecker, Kingbird, Ring-necked Pheasant (introduced into our country from the Old World), Phoebe, Least Fly-catcher, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, Black and White Warbler, and other species, attack these pests and devour them. Forbush says: "As time goes on, it is probable that birds will become more and more efficient enemies of the gipsymoth and the brown-tail moth, as they learn better how to manage them. . As the gipsy-moth spends more than half of the year in the egg, this is its most vulnerable point. If Jays, Creepers, Nuthatches, Woodpeckers, and other birds, could learn to eat these eggs, as European birds are said to do, they would then have an increased food-supply the year round. Naturally, they would increase in numbers, and thus an effective natural check to the gipsy-moth in America would be established, provided these birds were protected. "The brown-tail moth is more exposed to the attacks of birds than is the gipsy-moth, since the larvæ hibernate in their nests in curled-up leaves that remain on the tree all winter (see illustration). Already some birds are learning to open these winter nests and to extract the larvæ from them. If the birds once learn this lesson thoroughly, the power of this pest will be greatly lessened." The Red-winged Blackbird and Blue Jay seem to have found out this new food-supply, while a number of other species eat the hairy caterpillars which have crawled out of their winter nests, and also of the moths upon their emergence from the pupal stage. The variety and number of insects are so great that, if birds had no other kind of food-supply, there would doubtless be more than enough for all of them, provided there were less cold weather and more warm weather. In the remarkable economy of Nature, however, every form of life has its place, its season, and its work. To study the intricate relations which result from this order is a life-long task. Perhaps this is one chief reason why nature-study is so absorbing, because there is so much to learn that is entirely new. Surely, in no other study can teachers and pupils be discoverers and observers together to better advantage. But, to go back to the food of birds, numberless as the insects are, birds find other kinds of food awaiting them when they journey northward. Let us turn for a moment to the lists of trees, plants and animals which we studied in connection with the distribution and migration of birds, taking the Robin as our guide. (See Bird-Lore, Vol. XIV, No. 1, p. 57; No. 5, pp. 303-306; No. 6, pp. 364-368; Vol. XV., No. 1, pp. 53-57.) How delightful a trip it would be to fly with the Robin, from one place to another, from one tree to another, somewhat slowly at first, then more and more rapidly as spring hurried by us, seeking the distant North? Through tropics and semi-tropics, great plains and deserts, pine-barren country, by mountains and valleys, we should go; each day almost, finding new feeding-areas and nesting-places. If we could count the different trees which a Robin visits on its migration-trip, and the different things which it finds to eat, what a long list it would make! By permission of the Rhode Island Department of Agriculture WINTER NESTS (Hibernacula) OF THE LARVAE OF THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH These nests should be cut off in March and burned Now that we are watching for the Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, and Phoebe, suppose we learn a few facts about their food, putting our information down as follows: Food of the Robin, Red-winged Blackbird and Phoebe, Three of Our Beneficial Birds (See, Some Common Birds in their Relation to Agriculture, by F. E. L. Beal, Farmers' Bulletin, No. 54, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, and also, The Relation between Birds and Insects, Yearbook of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture for 1908.) Summary... Wild fruit, a few insects. Red-winged Blackbird Weed-seed. Weed-seed. In winter home. Weed-seed and insects. In winter home. Weed-seed and insects. In winter home. Mostly insects, a little Insects such as grain, a few snails and crustaceans. Weevils, 25 per cent less Mostly insects, a very sects. Weed-seed and insects, grain and rice notably May beetles Bugs. Wild fruit In winter home. Animal matter, chiefly in- Vegetable matter about Insects and spiders sects, 42 per cent, large- 74 per cent. ly injurious species. 93 per cent. Small fruits and berries Animal matter, mainly Wild fruit 7 per about 58 per cent, of insects, 26 per cent. cent. of the food of this species is weed-seed In habit of nesting, manner of feeding, song, plumage, and distribution quite different, these three species will furnish us ample work for study and observation during the year. It will be very much worth while to find out all that we can about them without in any way disturbing them. They have come, and are still coming, thousands of miles, to spend the summer with us. The Robin may even linger through late fall, or, if the winter be mild, the |