Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 19, 1916, Page 23

PART THREE EDITORIAL PAGES ONE TO SIX VOL. XLV—NO. Here Are a Few Typical Exhibits of the Boys in the Different Public Schools Where the Making of Bird Houses Has Com- manded Attention HE city hall cat will be restrained on Thureday, Friday and Satfrday, when an exhibit of bird houses will be held in the city council chamber in the city hall, -Some of the avian domiciles will be mounted on trees and the scene will be further embellished by stuffed specimens of birds Boys of the manual thirty-five public assiduously for several months on these houses There will be 360 Helen Thompson, in the schools, has charge cured sample houses and construction, City Commissioner nished the lumber and it was Mr gestion in the first instance that schools make these park Incidental to the making of the houses the chil- dren of the schools have been given considerable training in bird life, of the value of the birds and of the practical side of building houses for differ ent kinds of birds Parents and children will be invited to the ex- hibit, which will be free to all. After the exhibit Is over, the houses will be turned over to Com- missioner Hummel parks The boys have Indicated on their houses their pre ferred parks, so they may observe the occupancy of their handiwork from time to time Various materials used in these houses. Ope boy tied himself to a larger boy at Carter lake while he waded out to get reeds of & desired size. A few houses were cut of sections of logs, others made of cans and others of wil lows. Bome are pretentious pieces of work This bird house feature of the has served to stimulate general birds and has proved beyond expectations of school officials to have splendid educa- tional feature. President of the Board of Education and W. A. Foster, one of the members, are “bird men,” and are much interested in the building of bird houses by the boys “I do hope the birds will appreciate these houses, for the bovs have worked hgrd,” sald Su- perintendent Graff The boys at training departments of schools have been working houses in the exhibit Miss manual work bird Hummel fur Hummel's sug training She se house supervisor of of the books on he boys of the houses for the public for Installation in the were school work the interest In been a Ernst Comenius school were given a fashioning” OMAHA, 19, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH Vinton School Products which was cut down in & neighboring yard cut the tree into blocks and hewed the to bird houses he members of the B regard it of making the ethical his bird hou work as somet more They than the mere v hou constder it av matter They | v connection with the echool training that any activity which in spires boys & girls to get out and take an in terest in nature is sure to make for better citizen ship, to say nothing of the practical side of caring for the birds When placed Commisgioner Hummel sheall have these houses in the parks it tions of many of the teachers to heve outings d is the | ing the spring and carly and observation. A group of experienced obsarver of birds bhave seen as many varleties of birds in the local parks in one day It {s known that about 400 kinds of birds of all kinds are seen in Nebraska within a year. Blue birds were seen in Hanscom park last week and other birds are beginning to migrate to this section for their sum mer visit, summer for hird st as sixty Dr. Solon R. Towne, one of the bird authorities of Nebraska, is interested in the efforts of Omaha school children to provide houses for the feathered residents of the parks. The doctor looks at this subject from the practical as well as the ethical . ide. He values the Lirds as weed destroyers, ae ell as tree | The woodpeckers, (hickadees and brown creecpers work caterpillers The chickadee has have 100 caterpillar eggs In its 1id the doctor onversation the doctor sald nut hatehes all winter eating been known to op at 6§ a. m During The down) 108 Millg as 1l over the woodpecker referred to the tree surgeon, in that it goes bark of a tree ¢fter the ehrysalis and grubs, particularly into injured bark observed downy woodpecker 700 trees in one day. The hairy woodpecker that it works deeper into the The flicker is fond of ants. It will take several hundred ants from a lawn in short order il given the privilege “The chickadee, hairy and downy woodpecker, flicker and red-headed woodpecker all build in hollow trees, but will accept iblong bhoxes if bullt slmilar to the nests they make in thelr own way has been by E lhores for 1lls has one visit is similar except forest THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE 1916, A promiuent boxes and found German naturalist set out a lot of that nine-tenths were occupled, Caterpillars denuded a nearby forest but did not molest his trees because of the extensive bird life he encouraged during The birds that work In our parks winter be favored by preparing proper nests and encouragement by food supply If such attentions are given, the birds Immediately respond by becoming familiar with the neighbor hood taking this eare. This was brought out by Ernest Harold Bayers of Meriden, N, H., who spoke here a week ago. He showed how his home town has learned to get along without the English spar- row ‘Aside from the winter birds I mentioned there are perhaps twenty-five summer song birds who bufld their nests here in thickets, and these birds be helped by promoting growth of and bringing the leaves and branches of shrubs together in such & manner that these will Catbirds and brown the may may shrubbery Lirds be attracted PART THREE MAGAZINE PAGES ONE TO SIX L SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTY Boys Build Fine Houses for the Birds If Our Feathered Friends Don’t Flourish in Omaha it Won'’t Be for Lack of Homes thrashers, for instance, never bulld nests in trees, ‘““The bird houses should not be painted white or highly colored, because the birds prefer their nests in places which harmonize with the sure roundings; in other words, they do not want their nests to be conspicuous. We know that swallows l'ke openings in barns and sheds, and that robins, will bulld in a box if one side is left open.” - The bird house campaign created such an ine terest at Comenius school that 150 boys and girly of the upper grades have formed a branch of the Liberty Bell Bird league, an organization for the, study and protection of birds. These members have buttons and they intend to go on field ex- reditions during the spring and summer They will make bird houses for their homes and for the friends of the school district. A collection of twenty-five mounted birds is used at the school in connection with the nature study work. Prine cipal Orr is encouraging her children Im this see tivity.