Bird lore - Project Puffin

The Audubon Societies 389
flown away. Since then I never see a Robin but I think of the dear little family that
lived in our old tree near my window.
[All contests of this kind which encourage original observation and individual
effort are e.\cellent, and incidentally, they bring out rather clearly the difference in
pupils with reference to accuracy, ability to grasp details, and general interest in nature.
The paper entitled 'The Chimney Swallows' would be more accurate if Swallows were
not confused with the Chimney Swift. The latter, it should be noticed, is not a Swallow,
although resembling the former somewhat in appearance and habits. Nestling Swifts
are not really "fastened into the nest" but may seem to be if frightened, and although
it is not true that "only the mother can feed a baby Swallow," it is certain that nestling
Swifts are far more difficult to feed than nestling Robins or Tanagers, for example.
The observation that the little Swift's feathers look like pins is good. For statistics as
to the actual number of trips per day or per hour made by parent birds when feeding
their nestlings, see Useful Birds and Their Protection by K. H. Forbush.—A. H. W.]
THE WINTER BIRD-LIFE] OF MINNESOTA
Acknowledgment is due to the Minnesota Game and Fish Department for
an especially valuable copy of its official bulletin, entitled 'Fins, Feathers
and Fur.' In the December issue for 19 15, there appeared a contribution from
the Minnesota Natural History Survey, Zoological Section, University of
Minnesota, which describes the winter bird-life of the state with reference to
the most important phases of bird existence and subsistence. Such a compre-
hensive and authoritative resume of winter conditions would be of much use
in every state, particularly in the northern ones where winter conditions mean
a complete reversal of those of summer. That the Game and Fish Department
of a large and important state like Minnesota, lying as the latter does
directly in the main interior migration path of our birds, has shown sufficient
interest to publish this article on winter birds, is most encouraging evidence
of the direct benefits of cooperation among the university, state, and people
at large. We have so largely studied birds during the spring and summer
months in most states, that there remains a wide field for observation from the
fall to the spring migration. Attention might be called here to a fall migration
record covering ten years (1906-1915) made at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[See The Wilson Bulletin \'ol. XXVIII, Xo. 3, which would make a good basis of
comparison for winter records.—A. H. W.]
A METHOD OF MOUNTING BIRDS FOR CLASS USE
I suppose that almost everyone who has had occasion to give talks on birds
has wished to illustrate his lectures with specimens, and has experienced more
or less difficulty in doing so. Mounted birds are bulky, require special cases
for transportation, and are expensive if one has to have many, and while skins
are convenient enough, they will not stand much promiscuous handling.
The idea for the method I am about to describe is not original with me; it is
modeled after, I may as well say copied from, a mount for insects, known as