Photograph by William L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman

The California condor (adult) in southern California.-Several hundred photographs were taken, showing the life history of the California condor. Eight different trips were made back into the mountains to the nest. The old birds became tamer at each visit until, on the last trip, they were photographed at a distance of only a few feet

Photograph by William L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman

We recall John Burroughs' characterization of the late Theodore Roosevelt as an observer "in preeminent degree." He says apropos this power: "You may know the true observer, not by the big things he sees, but by the little things; and then not by the things he sees with effort and premeditation, but by the quick, spontaneous action of his mind"

Photographs by Arthur A. Allen

STUDIES IN NATURE'S EBONY-IN NEW YORK STATE

Bronze grackles have been accused of doing damage in the cornfield, but they feed on cutworms and other insects in summer, and this particular bird, while under observation at arm's length from a blind, fed its young upon grasshoppers.-"The great thing in observation is not to be influenced by our preconceived notions, or by what we want to be true, or by our fears, hopes, or any personal element, and to see the thing just as it is. A person who believes in ghosts and apparitions cannot be depended upon to investigate an alleged phenomenon of this sort. Above all don't jump to conclusions. . . . Be sure the crow is pulling corn instead of probing for grubs, before you kill him."-From Riverby

Today State Conservation Commissions, aiming to keep extant our native races of game birds and to introduce others like the pheasants, are giving the crow an unsavory reputation so far as unselfish respect for the rights of others is concerned. Burroughs is evidently aware of this objectionable feature in the crow but likes him withal; he gives many a bit of virile character description of him: "The crow is always in the public eye or ear. His color gives him away, his voice gives him away; on the earth or in the sky he is seen and heard afar. No creature wants his flesh, no lady wants his plume, though a more perfect and brilliant ebony cannot be found in nature. He is a bit of the night . . . yet the open day is his passion, publicity his passion. He is a spy, a policeman, a thief, a good fellow, a loyal friend, an alarmist, a socialist, all in he is never disgruntled, come rain, come shine, come heat, come snow. "-From Field and

one

Study

"The ways of nature,-who can map them, or fathom them, or interpret them, or do much more than read a hint correctly here and there? Of one thing we may be pretty certain, namely, that the ways of wild creatures may be studied in our human ways, inasmuch as the latter are an evolution from the former, till we come to the ethical code, to altruism and self-sacrifice."-Burroughs in Ways of Nature

594

Photograph by Edward A. McIlhenny

MALLARDS
FEEDING IN
LOUISIANA

With heads
submerged they
search the marsh
bottom. After
their migration to
the North to nest,
ducks will return
in the fall to a
given pond at the
South, if this pond
be protected and
if something of
the wild sur-
roundings of the
accustomed nat-
ural environment
be provided. In
the beginning a
few wing-clipped
ducks can be
made a start for
the colony, other
ducks will join,
and by suitable
attention to their
needs the colony
will grow. After

a return the first
fall the success of
the colony is as-
sured. This is a
method for con-
servation of Our
wild fowl that
will be increas-
ingly practised in
the years imme-
diately ahead

595