Bird lore - Project Puffin

262 Bird - Lore
anxious to know more of the bird-world, and Muhlenberg's eighty-five-acre
campus offered the opportimity. Gathering this kind of thesis material
out-of-doors was vastly preferable to the usual library research, and every
hour's preparation for such a paper gave complete and healthful relaxation.
The final and lasting results of this study meant a better appreciation of the
woods and fields; for an interest in bird life, if once aroused, lives on, and the
A GLIMPSE OF SOUTH GROVE
acquisition is permanent.
The title was 'Birds of the
Muhlenberg Campus,' not ''Bird
Life about Muhlenberg.' Strong
emphasis was placed first of all upon
studying only a strictly limited area,
which made for definite results from
the beginning. Eighty-five acres
could be worked and reworked con-
sistently and carefully, and all parts
visited daily.! '
Every moment on the
grounds spent out-of-doors could be
utilized for collecting data, and the
brief walks between the dormitories,
the administration buildings and
the dining-hall, became short bird-
observation walks. Working only
within the confines of the campus
meant concentration, and made pos-
sible accurate and valuable results;
for little of importance among the
birds occurred on the campus that
spring which was not noted. This
would- have been impossible if the
area studied had not been limited.
Muhlenberg's campus, like the great majority of college precincts, is well
suited to bird-study. The tall oaks of North Grove, the open fields to the west,
the wide smooth lawns of the campus proper interrupted by its shrubbery,
the wild remnant of woodland in South Grove, the orchard and farm, and
Cedar Creek with its swampy meadows all send out permanent invitations
to our feathered friends.
A map of the campus was made from blue-prints, and photographs were
taken of the various bird habitats there represented, and these were embodied
in the finished thesis. Fig. i shows a corner of the campus proper. Fig. 2 is a
glimpse of South Grove, Fig. 3 gives an idea of the orchard and farm, and Fig.
4 pictures the meadows of Cedar Creek. A glance at the corresponding numerals
on the map will give an idea of the relative location of these bird haunts.