HATERS NT
SANZ
QL
y 2
LAT
SURVEY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPART-
MENT OF AGRICULTURE
CE ZR
BLUEBIRD
Sialia sialis
Length, about six and one-half
inches.
Range: Breeds in the United States
(west to Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming.
and Montana), southern Canada, Mex:
ico, and Guatemala; winters in the
southern half of the eastern United
States and south to Guatemala.
Habits and economic status: The
bluebird is one of the most familiar
tenants of the farm and dooryard.
Everywhere it ig hailed as the har
binger of spring, and wherever it
chooses to reside it is sure of a warm
welcome. This bird, like the robin,
phoebe, house wren, and some swal
lows, is very domestic in its habits.
Its favorite nesting sites are crannies
in the farm buildings or boxes made
for its use or natural cavities in old
apple trees. For rent the bird pays
amply by destroying insects, and it
takes no toll from the farm crop. The
bluebird’s diet consists of 68 per cent
of insects to 32 per cent of vegetable
matter. The largest items of insect
food are grasshoppers first and beetles
next, while caterpillars stand third.
All of these are harmful except a few
of the beetles. The vegetable food
consists chiefly of fruit pulp, only an
insignificant portion of which is of cul
tivated varieties. Among wild fruits
elderberries are the favorite. From
the above it will be seen that the blue
bird does no essential harm, but on
the contrary eats many harmful and i
annoying insects.
Tae
COMMON CROW
(Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Length, ninetecn inches.
Range: Breeds throughout the
United States and most of Canada:
winters generally in the United States.
Habits and economic status: The
general habits of the crow are uni
versally known. Its ability to com:
mit such misdeeds as pulling corn
and stealing eggs and fruit and to get
away unscathed is little short of mar-
velous. - Much of the crow’s success
in life is due to co-operation, and
- the social instinct of the species has
its highest expression in the winter
roosts, which are sometimes frequent-
ed by hundreds of thousands of crows.
From these rcosts daily flights of
many miles are made in search of
food. Injury to sprouting corn is the
most ‘frequent complaint against this
species, but by coating the seed grain:
with coal tar most of this damage may
be prevented. Losses of poultry and
eggs may be averted by proper housing
and the judicious use of wire netting.
The insect food of the crow includes
wireworms, cutworms, white grubs,
and grasshoppers, and during out
breaks of these insects the crow ren-
ders good service. The bird is also
an efficient scavenger. But chiefly
because of its destruction of beneficial
wild birds and their eggs the crow
must be classed as a criminal, and a
reduction in its numbers in localities
where it is seriously destructive is
justifiable.
DOWNY WOODPECKER
Dryobates pubescens
Length, six inches. Our smallest
woodpecker; spotted with black and
white. Dark bars on the outer tail
feathers distinguish it from the simi:
larly colored but larger hairy wood:
"pecker.
Range: Resident in the United
States and the forested parts of Can-
ada and Alaska. .
Habits and economic status: This
woodpecker: is commonly distributed.
living in woodland tracts, orchards,
and gardens. The bird has several
characteristic notes, and, like the
hairy woodpecker, is fond of beating
on a dry resonant tree branch a tat
too which to appreciative ears has the
quality of woodland music. In a hole
excavated in a dead branch the downy
woodpecker lays four to six eggs.
This and the hairy woodpecker
are among our most valuable allies,
their food consisting eof some of
the worst foes of orchard and
woodland, which .the woodpeckers are
espeeially equipped to dig out of dead
and living wood. In the examination
of 723 stomachs of this bird, znimal
food, mostly insects, was found to con:
stitute 76 per cent of the diet and
vegetable matter 24 .per cent. The
animal food consists largely of beetles
that bore into timber or burrow under
the bark. Caterpillars amount to 16
per cent of the food and include many
especially harmful species. Grasshop-
per eggs are freely eaten. The vege-
table food of the downy woodpecker
consists of small fruit and seeds, most-
ly of wild species. It distributes seeds
of poison ivy, or poison oak, which is
about the only fault of this very use-
ful bird.
PURPLE MARTIN
(Progne subis)
Length, atout eight inches.
Range: Breeds throughout the
United States and southern Canada,
south to central Mexico; winters in
South America.
Habits and economic status: This
is the largest as it is one of the most
beautiful of the swallow tribe. It
formerly built its nests in cavities
of trees, as it still does in wild dis-
tricts, but learning that man was a
friend it soon adopted domestic habits.
Its presence about the farm can often
be secured by erecting houses suit-
able for nesting sites and protecting
them from usurpation by the English
sparrow, and every effort should be
made to increase the number of colo-
nies of this very useful bird. The
boxes should be at a reasonable
height, say 15 feet from the ground,
and made inaccessible to cats. A colo-
ny of these birds on a farm makes
great inroads upon the insect popu-
lation, as the birds not only them-
selves feed upon insects but rear their,
young upon the same diet. Fifty years
ago in New England it was not uncom-
mon to see colonies of 50 pairs of
martins, but most of them have now
vanished for no apparent reason ex:
cept that the martin houses have de-
cayed and have not been renewed.
More than three-fourths of this bird’s
food consists of wasps, bugs, and
beetles, their importance being in the
order given. The beetles include sev-
eral species of harmful weevils, as
the clover-leaf weevils and the nut
‘weevils, Besides these are many crane
'flief, moths, May flies, and dragon-
flies.
The Candy Problem.
Some remarks on the care of the
teeth have brought several queries on
the subject of “candies.” Of course,
children love them, and chocolates es-
pecially seem to have their recogniz-
ed place in their diet; they are very
good in their proper place— the mis-
chief comes in when they are out of it.
Some years age, when the nutritive
value of sugar came to be fully realiz-
ed, an unrestructed use of candy was
advocated in many quarters. This was
probably due also to the natural swing
of the pendulum from earlier and
more spartan days when such things
were looked upon as indulgence to be
withheld save oa special! occasions. It
was at the same time that food qual-
ity became an object of careful at-
tention, with the result of the appear-
ance of innumerable fads on the sub-
ject, the idea of “nutritive value” that
they were inclined to place sugar on a
pinnacle, naturally to their children’s
delight.
But in this indulgence there is a
danger; sugar, like many another
sweet thing, has its dangers. For one
thing, an acid reaction is set up on
contact with, the saliva, a menace
which must not be overlooked.
ry
Things are not always what they
seem,” and just as starch has to be
turned into sugar by the action of the
saliva before it can be dealt with by
the digestive organs at all, so sugar
is in great part rendered acid by a
chemical action of similar nature:
when the contact is allowed to be:
prolonged. Of course, the teeth are |
the first sufferers, and one potent |
cause of dental deterioration undoubt- |
edly lies in the injudicious use of |
candies. Therefore, the teeth should
be cleaned as far as vossible after |
their consumption, and certainly no |
Soe indulgence should be allowed in|
ed. i
The constc~t eating of sweets, too, |
should be wnrohibited; or, rather!
should never be allowed to become a
habit. It is exccedingly bad for the!
dige- tion and vitiates the appetite. |
As a matter of fact, children are often
made to eat far more sweets than they
want by being constantly given them !
and encouraged to tacitly look upon
them as their right. Let them have
good chocolates or other goodies at
senzihle times, by all means, but do.
no’ let a habit of indulgence in such
thin#s grow so that they become al-
together too prominent a factor in
the ordinary routine of life.
The Chameleon Outdone.
We have long heard of the power
of the chameleon to change its color
under certain circumstances. It now
appears that there are several fish liv-
ing in the tropical waters that not
only match the chameleon in this re-
spect, but fairly outdo them. Several
of these have been carefully studied
in aquariae and the changes in color
are very remarkable. They assume
different colors when endeavoring to
conceal themselves, when they are ex-
cited or in distress or in anger, and
all of these changes may be watched
one after the other in the animals
Neither should the
find you nervous, done out, fit for
nothing but bed.
It’s not necessary—not if you'll re-
place your range with a New Perfec-
tion Oil Cook Stove.
range that’s respons
and the fume and for the terrible heat
of the kitchen.
With a coal range there’s no way out
of keeping a roaring
fire going the whole
‘day long and just to
heat a few boilers of
water. But with
Perfection wash day
loses its terrors. The
flame is kept going
only as long as itis in
actual use, your
kitchen can’t become
unduly warm, an
just as usual.
REFINING CO.
meals can be prepared
THE ATLANTIC
- Wipe the
out of
end of the day
BLUE
MONDAY
Monday is a hard day. But not so
hard that itshould give you the blues.
Ask your dealer to explain the con-
veniences of a Perfection. Then have
him tell you how little kerosene it
uses and how cheap kerosene is.
Don’t think all kerosenes are the
For it’s the
ible for the fuss
“New
a Oil Stove
d
same. They're not. No more than all
sugars are identical. Of course, you
know that cane sugar is better than
beet sugar and you buy accordingly.
But what, perhaps, you don’t realize .
is that Atlantic Rayolight Oil differs
from other kerosenes in that it burns
without smoke or
smell, without char-
PERF EC TION ring wicks, but with an
intense heat. It never
varies. Each gallon of
Rayolight is precisely
the same. And don’t
forget that the use of
Rayolight lengthens
the life of any oil-
burning device.
Ask for Atlantic Rayolight
Oil by name—at ali dealers
who display this -ign:
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
living in an aquarium. The colors are
widely variable. A single fish may be
a uniform creamy white, without any
dark markings whatsoever; it may be
dark above, with white parts below;
it may be a uniformly dark, coffee
brown; it may “have its upper half
sharply banded with the lower half
creamy white; it may be brown below,
darker above, with medium black
bands; it may be dark colored, mot-
tled with white, or it may be uniform-
ly dark, suffused with red. All of
these changes occur in the same ani-
mal, sometimes rapidly, sometimes
slowly. They frequently assume the
color of the objects in which they are
trying to hide; and some of the other
colors are clearly associated with
states of excitement, fear or anger.
These changes may be observed in
the New York aquarium.
These changes in color have been
thought of as an attempt, conscious
or unconscious,to imitate the color of
their surroundings. Biologists have,
however, been loath to accept such an
explanation from its inherent im-
probability. The attempt is now being
made to account for the phenomena
as a device for regulating heat ab-
sorption by color change. It is pointed
out that such color changes never
occur in animals that have sweat
glands as a device for heat regulation,
but only in cold-blooded animals
where the only mechanism for modifi-
cation of heat absorptign is by the
color change. :
FINE GROCERIES
the market.
Turnips. Sweet Potatoes and Cabbage.
California-Naval Oranges—seedless.
this season, but we have fancy fruit at 30c, 40c, 50c and extra large at 60c.
Have just received some very fancy New Mackerel. Try them.
We have the Genuine New Orleans Molasses—new crop, light colored,
heavy body to sell by the quart or gallon. It will please you.
Evaporated Peaches, Pears, Apricots, Prunes and Raisins, all at reasonable
prices. Come to the store that has the goods you want.
If you are not using our Vinegar, just try it and see the difference.
SECHLER & COMPANY,
| Bush House Block, - - 57-1 - - - Bellefonte, Pa.
Fancy Wisconsin Cheese, with mild flavor. At the present market value
of Cheese it should retail at 28c to 30c per pound but we still hold our price
down to 25 cents. It’s a fine bargain at this price.
We have made no advance on Canned Corn, Peas and Stringless Beans.
At our present prices they are as good value as any food product on
Our White potatoes are good size and fine quality Also Parsnips, Onions,
If you are not pleased with Syrup in tin cans and pails try our fine goods
sold by the quart and gallon. We have a pure Sugar and a fine grade of
Compound goods at 50c and 60c per gallon. Sure to please you.
The smaller sizes are all gone for
Don’t Carry
About a
speculation DEPOSIT THEM IN A
56-6
-
Great Roll of Money!
If you have made a few hundred dollars in a business deal or a lucky
The possession of a large amount of currency is a temptation to spend.
You Will Not Be So Ready to Draw a Check as
You Will to Spend the Ready Cash
THE CENTRE COUNTY BANK,
BANK AT ONCE.
Shoes.
Shoes.
Men's Flrst
BELLEFONTE PA;
$4.75
Fishing Season is at Hand
and we are selling the U. S. brand of
RED GUM BOOTS
at $4.50 per pair. These boots are
worth $6.00. You had better pur-
chase a pair at this price.
| PLEASE REMEMBER
we are the onlv store in Bellefonte
selling Shoes, that gives the Sperry
& Hutchinson Co.
Green Trading Stamps.
H. C. YEAGER,
THE SHOE MAN,
Bush Arcade Bldg, = 58-27
Quality Boot
BELLEFONTE, PA.