ments. (Slow or active, hops, walks, creeps, swims, tail
wagged, etc.)

4. Appearance. (Alert, listless, crest erect, tail drooped, etc.)

5. Disposition. (Solitary, flocking, wary, unsuspicious, etc.)

6. Flight. (Slow, rapid, direct, undulating, soaring, sailing,
flapping, etc.)

7. Song. (Pleasing, unattractive, long, short, loud, faint, sung from
the ground, from a perch, in the air, etc. Season of song.)

8. Call notes. (Of surprise, alarm, protest, warning, signaling, etc.)

9. Season. (Spring, fall, summer, winter, with times of arrival and
departure and variations in numbers.)

10. Food. (Berries, insects, seeds, etc.; how secured.)

11. Mating. (Habits during courtship.)

12. Nesting. (Choice of site, material, construction, eggs,
incubation, etc.)

13. The young. (Food and care of, time in the nest, notes, actions,
flight, etc.)

So varied is a bird's life that there is still plenty to be learned
about even our common birds. It is quite possible for a scout to
discover some facts that have never yet been published in books.

[Illustration: Red-breasted nuthatch.]

What One Boy Did

A boy once originated the idea of varying the usual "bird's nesting"
craze into a systematic study of the breeding of our common birds. In
one spring he found within the limits of a single village one hundred
and seventy robins' nests. "One hundred were in suitable situations on
private places, forty-one were in woods, swamps and orchards, eight
were placed under bridges (two being under the iron girders of the
railroad bridge), four were {91} in quarries, sixteen were in barns,
sheds, under piazzas, etc., and one was on the ground at the foot of a
bush."

In addition to searching out the birds in their natural haunts, there
is a great fascination in trying to attract them to our homes. During
winter evenings boy scouts can busy themselves making nesting boxes.
Even an old cigar box or a tomato can with a hole in it the size of a
quarter will satisfy a house wren. Other boxes which are suitable for
bluebirds, chickadees, tree swallows, purple martins, and starlings,
will, if set up in March, often have tenants the very first season. In
many cases it is feasible to have hinged doors or sides on the nesting
boxes, so that they may occasionally be opened and the progress of
events within observed. It is needless to add, however, that great
caution must be exercised to prevent desertion of the nest, or other
dist