A GROSBEAK IN THE GARDEN

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HEN through the heaviness and clamoring throng
Of mortal ways I hear the mellow song

Of birds, the birds seem sent to me.

If this be my insanity,

As men will measure it—so let it be!

When shadows that no will can drive away
Entomb me, then no sermon blesseth day,
More true and sweet than that pure note

My ear hath caught afloat

From out the garden grosbeak's fervent throat.

Thou, crimson-caped messenger of God,
Seem'st not to feel the thorned and bitter rod
Of Life-thy hours are joyously beguiled

With melodies so wild!

In sooth, thy creed is trusting as a child!

Full knowing that thy living days are brief
Thou grudgest even an hour for sober grief;
Thy poems are scattered free, without a name,
Nor hast thou thought of fame!

Is my unpaid aspiring yet my blame?

The world is wide 'twixt man and worlds divine,
And hearts are dull to such a song as thine;
But I have heard. Sing on, from tree to tree,
As thou has sung to me,—

And more shall find the God that guideth thee!
Ivan Swift, Harbor Springs, Michigan.

THE GAME LAW

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ROHIBITS the killing of wild birds other than the game birds enumerated below, except English sparrows, hawks, owls and crows. The open season on game birds is as follows: Wild turkey gobblers, from December 1st to April 1st; quail, November 1st to March 1st; doves, August 1st to March 1st; swan, geese, brant, ducks, rails, coots, mud hens, sand pipers, woodcocks and curlews, September 1st to March 15th; snipe and plover, November 1st to May 1st.

The killing of wild turkey hens is at all times prohibited.

Prohibits any pitfall, deadfall, scaffold, cage, snare, trap, net, salt lick, baited hook or baited field, or any other similar device, or any drug, poisonous chemicals or explosives, for the purpose of injuring, capturing or killing any protected bird or animal; also prohibits hunting protected birds or animals between dark and daylight. Unlawful to kill or capture any song or insect destroying bird at any time.

Open season on deer, November 1st to January 1st, and prohibits killing of doe, or female deer, at all times.

Open season on squirrels from October 1st to the following March 1st.

Fixes the following limits for each person in one day: One deer, two turkeys, and twenty-five game birds.

Prohibits the sale or offering for sale of protected game birds or animals.

Prohibits the shipping or carrying of game except openly and in the possession of those who have hunter's license, as required by law. Prohibits carriers from accepting game to be carried in any other way, either within the State or without the State. Prohibits absolutely the carrying or shipping of live game.

Makes it unlawful to hunt on the land of another without written permission.

OVEN-BIRD

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HIS bird has an orange brown head, bordered by black; there is no white on the wings or tail. Oven-birds are found in open woods where they build their arched nests on the ground among the leaves or pine needles. It is the peculiar oven-like construction of their nests that give them their name. They are essentially ground birds, only mounting to the lower branches of trees to sing or when scolding an intruder.

The song is a peculiar ascending note resembling the word teacher, repeated five or six times and gathering strength and volume with each syllable; the call is a sharp chip.

The nest is made of leaves, strips of bark and grass arched over the top so as to leave a very small opening; it is placed on the ground in woods. There are four to six white eggs spotted with reddish brown.

Oven-birds breed throughout eastern North America, in the northern half of the United States and north to Labrador; they winter chiefly south of the United States.