Page:Condor18(5).djvu/16

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190 THE CONDOR Vol. XVIII with tall peaked hats. In passing a goat pen we persuaded the white-bearded goatherd to take a dime for a cup of goat's milk though he urged that it was worth only un centavo. A jolly party of Mexicans traveling in a prairie schooner ca .mped by our water tanks. Here we saw our first tropical and sub-tropical White-winged Dove, a bird which afterwards grew rapidly common. In hooting it sat on a branch and puffed out its throat emitting its curious hollow, cavernous whoo-hoo'-hoo-hoo'. A nest that we discovered was in a huisache over flood water about six feet from the ground. Beyond Sauz Ranch a new effect was given to the woods by the butterfly tree (Parkinsonia aculeata). It had been only in bud at Petranilla Creek a week before, but we were going south and it was here in full bloom, its jessa- mine-like yellow flowers having a delicate fragrance. A Salvia also added a bright touch to the woods, and outside the magenta poppies increased in num- bers. (To be continued) A HOSPITAL FOR WILD BIRDS By DR. W. W. ARNOLD WITH TWO PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR NE OF the most delightful sequelae to my efforts to interest school children in bird-life and its protection, was the establishment of a hos- pital for the care and treatment of wild birds suffering from what might be termed the normal catastrophes which happen to vast numbers of our leathered brothers as they journey from their embryonic egg-shell home to the grave. For a number of years I had been devoting much time and attention to arousing general interest in the welfare and protection of bird- life, through talks on birds, illustrated by lantern slides and mounted speci- mens; but it seemed impossible to arouse a permanent interest and abiding enthusiasm in the children until I adopted the plan of taking the live birds that had. been restored from some accident, and showing them to the chil- dren, at the same time reciting the life-histories of the leathered patients, the character of their injuries, and the method of treatment carr. ied out for their relief. This plan met with an immediate response, and the children deluged me with such numbers of crippled birds that I was compelled to erect a com- modious aviary (fig. 50), and to call into use a large number of small cages for the accomodation of the seriously injured. Within twelve months the size of the hospital had to be doubled to aecom- odate the leathered patients; and following the heavy hail storm occurring July 18, 1915, I was completely swamped and had to resort to all kinds of de- vices to furnish shelter for the flocks of battered and broken creatures brought to me by the children. Forty-five robins suffering from broken wings,. broken legs, eyes knocked out, and bodies battered and bruised, refrigerated by ten or twelve hours spent in windrows of hail stones, were brought to the hospital for treatment; and fifteen miscellaneous victims--bluebirds, finches, black- headed grosbeaks, yellow warblers, red-shafted flickers, meadowlarks, tana-