Part 5
In educational work we have secured the publication of a paper on 'The Relation of Birds to Trees,' by Florence A. Merriam, in the annual Arbor Day Manual of New York State, and Mr. Chapman, chairman of our Executive Committee, reports that in connection with Professor Bickmore, of the American Museum's Department of Public Instruction, and a committee representing the science teachers of the fourteen normal colleges of the State, he has prepared a course in bird study for the normal colleges for the present year.
Further interest in birds was shown by the science teachers of the State in their invitation to Mr. Chapman to address them on the subject of 'The Educational Value of Bird Study,' during their convention, held in New York City, December 29-30, 1898.
That the good work accomplished cannot be gauged by the number of members is proved by the constant reports received from local secretaries and others, telling of classes formed for bird study, of clubs that have taken up the subject, of bird exercises in schools, etc. If all these silent sympathizers would only realize how much the cause might be strengthened by open, concerted action, shown by a large membership roll of the Audubon Society, its influence would be greatly increased.
Emma H. Lockwood, _Sec'y._
NEW JERSEY SOCIETY
We have at present 124 members and have distributed over 1,000 general circulars in regard to the work, and 1,000 aigrette circulars written by Mr. Chapman. We expect to have new literature issued during the coming year, and are now having the State bird-laws printed for distribution.
Mary A. Mellick, _Sec'y._
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Mrs. John Dewhurst Patten, secretary of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia, reports much valuable work. A course of six lectures was given by Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller, and others by Mr. Chapman and Dr. Palmer.
A successful and fashionably attended exhibit of millinery was held in April. Nine of the leading milliners contributed hats and bonnets, which, of course, were entirely free from wild bird feathers. The society has designed an Audubon pin after a drawing of the Robin, by Mr. Robert Ridgway. This has already been adopted by the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts societies. At the suggestion of the secretary of the Pennsylvania society, efforts have been directed towards the establishment of societies in the south.
In response to a great demand for a cheap book of information about local birds, this society has been instrumental in issuing 'Birds of Washington and Vicinity,'[C] by Mrs. L. W. Maynard--200 pages 12mo, illustrated, which may be had for the small sum of 85 cents. The price placing the volume within the reach of teachers and pupils in the public schools.
[Footnote C: See a review of this book in _Book News and Reviews_.]
OHIO SOCIETY
Miss Clara Russell, corresponding secretary of the Ohio society, informs us that at a meeting held in Cincinnati on December 14 an Ohio Audubon society was organized with the following officers: President, William Hubbell Fisher; vice-president, William H. Venable; corresponding secretary, Miss Clara Russell; secretary, Mrs. T. B. Hastings; treasurer, Mrs. W. T. Armor.
On December 30 Miss Russell writes: "We have over fifty members, and feel much encouraged that we have aroused a sentiment in this locality to know more about our feathered friends, and to protect birds from being wantonly destroyed for pleasure, fashion, or the table."
* * * * *
Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN
The Macmillan Company
ENGLEWOOD, N. J.
NEW YORK LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN _R. Weber_
=Bird-Lore=
April, 1899
CONTENTS
Frontispiece--Least Bittern, Nest and Eggs. From a Photograph by E. G. Tabor. The Camera as an Aid in the Study of Birds. Illustrated. Concluded from February Number _Dr. Thomas S. Roberts_ 35 A Least Bittern Portrait. Illustrated _E. G. Tabor_ 39 Loons at Home. Illustrated. _William Dutcher_ 40 Photographing a Bluebird. Illustrated. _Robert W. Hegner_ 43 A Tragic St. Valentine's Day. _Annie Trumbull Slosson_ 45 Clark's Crows and Oregon Jays on Mount Hood. Illustrated. _Florence A. Merriam_ 46
FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS Suggestions for Bird-Day Programs in the Schools. _C. A. Babcock_ 49 Summer Boarders for Boys and Girls. 51 A Bird-Day Program. _Elizabeth V. Brown_ 54 Migration Tables for April and May. _Dr. A. K. Fisher_ 52
FOR YOUNG OBSERVERS The Legend of the Salt. Illustrated. _Frank M. Chapman_ 55 The February Walk Contest. 57 A February Walk in Central Park. _Floyd C. Noble_ 57 The Myth of the Song Sparrow. Illustrated. _Ernest Seton Thompson_ 59
NOTES FROM FIELD AND STUDY 60 Sparrow-Proof Houses. Illustrated. D. R. Geery; A Musical Woodpecker, D. L. Burnett; An Ornithologist at San Juan.
BOOK NEWS AND REVIEWS 61 Sharpe's 'Sketch Book of British Birds'; Stone's Report on Bird Protection; 'Journal of the Maine Ornithological Society'; 'Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club'; Maynard's 'Nature Study in Schools'; A new book by Mrs. Miller; Ernest Seton Thompson's 'Wild Animals I Have Known'; Clark's 'Bird Tablets'; A book by the originator of Bird-Day.
EDITORIALS 63
AUDUBON DEPARTMENT 64 Editorial; A Letter from Governor Roosevelt; Reports from the Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota Societies.
×*× _Bird-Lore is published at Englewood, New Jersey, where all manuscripts intended for publications, books, etc., for review, and exchanges should be mailed in care of the Editor, Frank M. Chapman._
PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT
The unexpectedly large demand for the first number of Bird-Lore has so nearly exhausted the edition it has been deemed advisable to reserve the few remaining copies for subscribers to the volume.
Bird-Lore for June will contain an article by Olive Thorne Miller entitled, 'The Ethics of Caging Birds'; a poem by Edith M. Thomas; the conclusion of Miss Merriam's article; an account of a visit to Audubon's birthplace, by Otto Widmann; unusually interesting papers on the Cardinal and Chimney Swift, and some remarkable bird pictures, including one by Dr. Roberts.
=Bird-Lore=
A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS
Official Organ of the Audubon Societies
======================================= Vol. 1 April, 1899 No. 2 =======================================
The Camera as an Aid in the Study of Birds
BY DR. THOS. S. ROBERTS
Director Department of Birds, Natural History Survey of Minnesota With photographs from Nature by the Author
(_Concluded from page 13_)
Turning reluctantly from the attractive little Chickadee family, described in the preceding number of this magazine, we will next seek the acquaintance of a bird of entirely different feather, and, what is of more moment to the bird photographer, of entirely different disposition.
The Killdeer Plover, perhaps from his close kinship to the fraternity of game birds, has come to regard man and all human devices with deep suspicion, and to get on terms of close fellowship with him is no easy matter. While not himself an usual object of the sportsman's effort, owing to his lean body and indifferent savor, he is the immediate relative of those much sought-after birds, the Golden and the Black-bellied Plover. Unlike these more aristocratic members of the Plover group, the Killdeer does not retire to semi-arctic fastnesses to rear its brood, but nests wherever found throughout the eastern United States. Its ever-restless nature and loud alarm, "killdee, killdee," as it moves from place to place, or circles round and round, always at a safe distance, together with its common occurrence throughout populated as well as wild regions, makes this plebeian well-known to every country lad and the bane of every would-be stealthy Nimrod. So noisily persistent is its outcry that it has been dubbed by ornithologists _vocifera_--_Ægialitis vocifera_--and a most appropriate appellation it is.
Like many loquacious people, Mr. and Mrs. Killdeer have a rather lazy vein in their make-up, and spend but little time or effort nest building. A little depression lined with a few bits of stick or straw, a few pebbles or other handy materials satisfies their ambition. In the bare, exposed situation usually chosen, such a nest, with its four spotted eggs, is much less conspicuous than would be a well made one. The first of our pictures showed one of these nests located in a corn-field, which is a not very uncommon site, although bare pasture knolls and gravelly banks are more usually selected. The photograph of the nest and eggs was, of course, easily secured, and is chiefly of interest because it shows so well how an open nest with its eggs may be protected by blending perfectly with the general color of the immediate surrounding--protective coloration, as it is called. To secure the portrait of the wary old Killdeer, who left the nest the instant anyone but entered the large field, seemed a hopeless task. But the novice is ever ambitious, and the attempt was made in the following fashion, with what success the accompanying pictures will show. Placing the camera on the sharply tilted tripod, so that the distance from lens to nest was about four feet, the dreadful looking object was left in position for some time on the evening preceding the day on which the photographs were taken. The next day proved light and clear, and with the sun well up in the heavens we began operations, my companion and assistant on this occasion being Rev. H. W. Gleason, a bird enthusiast undaunted by any obstacle and fertile in devices. Arranging the camera as already described, omitting the green hood in this instance, as it would have been worse than useless, we retired entirely from the field, which fortunately lay on a gently sloping hillside. From our distant retreat we watched, with field-glass in hand, the maneuvers of the mother bird. The experience of the preceding evening had evidently helped to prepare the way, for after only brief delay the anxious bird began running in a great spiral steadily converging to the central point. Every clod of earth or little mound in the path was mounted and, with much craning of neck and turning of head, the dreadful engine glistening in the sunshine was closely scrutinized from all sides, but as it was motionless, it probably was regarded as some new-fangled contrivance for cultivating corn, of finer build than the hoes, rakes, and other implements left by the men in the field. Once satisfied, she made a last quick run directly between the legs of the tripod, and stood erect over her treasures. A long trolling-line, procured at a neighboring farm-house, had been attached to the lever arm releasing the shutter, as our seventy-five feet of tubing was not half long enough. Creeping to the end of the line, a quick pull made the exposure,--1/25 of a second, with wide open stop and rapid plate. Pulling up the slack of the line seemed to startle the bird more than the click of the shutter, and after repeating this procedure several times we were altogether uncertain as to whether the bird had been caught at all; and as it was impossible, there in the field, to follow the advice of an interested farmer spectator, who insisted that we "ought to look at them there plates and see what we had before going further," we cast about for some surer method. Carefully looking over the ground, I found that some seventy-five feet from the nest there was a shallow depression just deep enough to entirely conceal a man lying prone on the soft, ploughed ground. So the rubber tube was substituted for the line and the bulb end carried up the slope to the little hollow. As it would be impossible from this position to see the bird, and as we had discovered that a low whistle or noise caused her to leave the nest at once, some method of signaling had to be arranged. The trolling line suggested a way, as we found that it would reach readily from the bulb in the hollow to the edge of the field. So, attaching one end of it to my wrist, I took my position flat on the ground in the middle of the field, with a hot noon sun pouring down overhead, and awaited the signal,--a vigorous jerk on the trolling line, to be given by Mr. Gleason, who from a distance was watching with a glass the movements of our unwilling sitter. The signal soon came, and these complicated and rather juvenile tactics proved so successful that very soon Mrs. Plover did not so much as change position at the click of the shutter, and when driven away to rearrange the camera between exposures, came quickly back again. In a short time we had exposed all the plates that seemed necessary, and retired from the field conquerors, though leaving the foe in peaceful possession. Returning to the house for supplies for a new expedition, a lady member of the party, who, from a shady hammock, had been watching for several hours these rather boyish antics, saluted us with the withering remark, "About four years of age, I should think, instead of forty." But we hoped that the end would justify the means, and were anxious to inspect the developed results. This part of the work was accomplished a day or two later, and the pictures here presented show, I think, that our efforts were not entirely in vain. Several others were not so good. In one, the female sits quietly on her nest, back to the camera, and in coloration blends admirably with the surroundings. In another, she is crouching in a half uncertain attitude, while in still another she stands erect, revealing the four eggs directly beneath her, and with ruffled plumage seems a little resentful of the intrusion. In all, it will be noticed that the bill is partly open, either because it was a very warm day, because the poor bird was startled and ill at ease, or, it may be, because it was no easy matter for this always loquacious bird to keep its mouth shut even when posing for its picture.
A Least Bittern Portrait
BY E. G. TABOR
(_See Frontispiece_)
On the morning of May 27, 1897, equipped with an extra supply of patience and a 5 × 7 'Premo B' camera fitted with rapid rectilinear lens, my plate-holders filled with unexposed plates, and accompanied by my wife, who has been a partner in all of my successful trips, I started for Otter Lake, Cayuga County, N. Y.
It was a beautiful morning, with not a breath of air stirring (by the way, this is the hardest of all things to control, and is an absolute necessity if you are to make fine, clear-cut negatives of birds and their natural surroundings), and the lake looked like a mirror. It took but a minute to get the large, flat-bottomed row-boat ready for the start, and we were soon gliding along, an oar's-length from shore, scanning every tree, bush, and bunch of rushes, in search of nests, those of the Red-winged Blackbird being very plenty and placed both in bushes or rushes in about equal numbers. A pair of Kingbirds had selected as the place for their summer home, a large, low willow limb which projected over the water; a peep into the nest revealed three eggs, common, yet so beautiful in their bed of wool and feathers.
Our next finds were several nests of a pair of Long-billed Marsh Wrens, which looked more like mouse-nests than anything else I have in mind. As we could return to these later, if unable to find anything better, we had not yet exposed a single plate, reserving them for a rare or unusual find.
We were in search of nests of the Least Bittern, and as we were passing that part of the shore where they always nested, we soon located a nest, but as it only contained one egg, another nest must be found. A male Least Bittern flew up a short distance ahead of us and 'dropped in' back of the bushes. We rowed down to the place from which he flushed, and standing up in the boat looked around, and not more than a boat's-length ahead, we espied a female sitting on a nest. I pushed the boat very carefully to within a couple of feet of the nest, and prepared to make an exposure. The camera was set to focus on an object 34 inches from cap of lens, and I moved it back and forth until the focus was perfect, the diaphragm was closed to _f_ 16, and an instantaneous exposure with speed at 1/25" was made.
As most of my operations, preparatory to making the exposure, were of necessity carried on within three feet of the bird on the nest, she at several times started to leave it; but when the bird moved I kept still, and when she kept still I worked; in this way I finally completed my preparations. The peep I got of the eggs as she partly raised off from them, just as I finished, made me squeeze the bulb before I intended to; but the result I obtained fully satisfied me, for in no other way could I describe the results of this trip, and what I saw and learned of the habits and home-life of the Least Bittern.
Loons at Home
BY WILLIAM DUTCHER
I should like to say a few words to the readers of Bird-Lore on the subject of making good photographs of birds. Don't conclude at once, when you see pictures of nests, or birds in their wild state, that it is an easy matter to get them. A year ago, when I saw the fine exhibition of slides presented by Mr. Brewster and Mr. Chapman at the American Ornithologists' meeting, I at once concluded that it would be an easy thing for me to get similar results. So I forthwith invested much good money in purchasing a camera, and all the accompanying outfit; but not until I had worried all my photographic friends for advice of all kinds. With all the confidence of an expert I started on this unknown sea, and I must confess to you, patient reader, that my efforts were a brilliant string of failures, for from the more than one hundred and twenty-five plates that I exposed, I succeeded in getting only two good negatives. But I had lots of fun and plenty of experience, and am just as proud of my two good negatives as the celebrated old hen that had but one chick. If you want to learn to be patient and persevering, try photographing in the fields and woods. If you wish to learn more of the habits of birds than you can in any other possible way, try for hours to get them familiar enough with you and your camera to go on with their nest-building, or feeding their nestlings. Besides all this, in later days, whenever you see the photograph, it will recall to you every pleasant moment that you spent in getting the negative.
That you may share with me some of the pleasures that I experienced in getting a negative of a nest of eggs, from which the accompanying picture was made, let me tell you the following story about the Great Northern Diver, more commonly known as the Loon, and among the scientists as _Gavia imber_.
Those of you who are familiar with the Adirondack or Canada lakes can easily picture the surroundings of this nest, which I found in Higley Lake, Canada. This is a small body of water, hardly more than a very large pond. This section of Canada may be called a lake region, and is very beautiful. Most of the lakes are surrounded with forests, in which the contrasting colors of the evergreens and white birches add greatly to the natural beauty of the scenery. This nest was built in very shallow water, about eight feet from the shore. It was, at its base, about twenty inches in diameter, and at its apex about fifteen inches wide. It was about nine inches above the water at its greatest height, and composed entirely of mud, so far as I could determine, of a very dark color. The water where it was placed was not over six or eight inches deep, but it was really a very hard matter to determine exactly where the water ended and the mud commenced. This I ascertained to my sorrow and discomfiture when I undertook to set up my tripod. Standing in a very round-bottomed boat and trying to plant a tripod in silt of seemingly unfathomable depth is no easy job, as I found out. Finally, however, I succeeded in getting what I now have the pleasure of showing you; but I dare not tell you of the beautiful failures I made before this picture was obtained. When I first discovered the nest, the Loon was upon it, but as soon as she saw me she slid off into the lake and made every effort to dive. It is true that her head was under the water, but her back was not until she had gone some feet from the nest out into the lake, where the water was deep enough to entirely cover her. She did not then appear until she was well across the pond, where she was joined by her mate. The nest contained only one egg when I first saw it; but in the water, on the lake side of the nest, I found another egg, which the mother bird had evidently rolled out of the nest, perhaps in her fright and hasty departure when she first saw me. This egg I replaced in the nest by lifting it with the broad end of the boat oar, thinking, perhaps, that handling it might cause the Loon to desert the nest. The egg that was in the water was many shades lighter in color than the one found in the nest, which leads me to believe that the eggs of birds that habitually breed in damp mud nests acquire a darker color from stains.
In another pond of about the same size, and within half a mile of Higley Lake, I subsequently saw a pair of Loons that had but one young, so far as I could ascertain. If there was another it was kept well hidden. I was very much interested in watching the methods by which the old birds kept the little fellow out of danger. When I first saw the family group, both parents and the little one were together; but immediately on the appearance of my boat the whole group disappeared under the surface. The young bird soon came to the surface again in about the same spot, but the parents were some distance off on the other side of the boat, so that I was between them. Both parents were perfectly quiet until I undertook to row toward their offspring, when one of the parents uttered what was to me a very new and peculiar cry, on hearing which the little one immediately dove; the cry was entirely different from the usual loud, maniacal cry of the Loons. As soon as the young one appeared I again started toward him, when the old bird repeated the same cry, and down went the little fellow. It was very evident that he knew whenever he heard that warning cry he must disappear at once. I had so much sympathy for the lonely little chap that I left him, after I had tried the experiment a number of times. As soon as I drew away to another part of the pond the old birds uttered the usual well known cry of the species, but the little one then remained on the surface and was soon joined by the parent birds.