The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-21


 the Nspeed. On the other hand, the screM propeller of the aeroplane has no lost motion. Yet less than two ounces of fuel in the form of body fat suffice to carry the bird at high speed over that 2,000-n1i4e cour se. To be equally economical, a 1,0OO-pound aeroplane would have to use only, a single pint of gasolene in flying twen- ty miles, instead of the gallon now used by the latest models
 Another of the birds whose route MT. Cooke studied and described as the Eskimo curlew. which describes an enormous eIlipse-6, 900 miles in it's longer an 2,00O miles in it's shorter axis-between Labrador and south ern Argentina and Pata gonia. Seven birds adopt this route in their raigra- tions, the species being the dowitcher, stflt, white-rumped, and sempalmat- ed sandpipers, lesser yellow legs and golden p1over.
 Investigation of this flight brought fundamental law underlying the choice of all migration routes.
 Birds lay out that course between the winter and summer homes which is the shortest and at the same time furnishes them most plentiful food supplies. The seven birds named are birds of tree1essi regions; they summer
 
 pampas.. An unlimited food supply, especially palatable, attracts them in fall to Labrador. whence they take the most direct route to South Africa.'
 The breeding range of these birds was on the Barren Grounds, near the Arctic coast. As soon as the hedg- lings were old enough to care for to Labrador to feast on stcur1ew ber- ries.'' Thence they flew over the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Nova Scotia, and then set over the otean for a flight of 2, 400 miles. From the east coast of Brazil they crossed South America to their wintering grounds in Patagonia. For the spring migra- ton a. different was chosen, sew era1 thousand miles farther west, northward over the Mississippi valley prairies.
 During these studies MT. Cooke also made valuable contributions to the knowledge of the evolution of bird routes and the effect of seasons and climatic variations upon the time at which they were begun.
 Mr. Cooke's interest in the proteo- ton of game and in legitimate sports nanship won for him the cooperation not only of bird collectors throughout the country, but of hunters. From them he obtained analysis of the con- tents of birds crops and stomachs, which gave him valuable material for determining their foods and their feeding grounds.
 E It was largely due to his efforts also that the Government Established bird shelters and reservations along the Atlantic Coast and in the South. It was not till 1905 that< the Gov ernment took up the matter of guard ing these preserves extensively, al though the first of them-at Pelican Island-had been established by Pres ident Roosevelt in 1903. Since that time the number of observations in which the birds can nest and breed has increased to 6s. scattered from Alaska to Porto Rico and from Flor ida to California and Hawaii.
 MT. Cooke's census of the birds slaughtered bx hunters and his anal ysis of the effect of hunting seasons upon their declining numbers led to the passage in 1913 of a national law for protecting migratory game and in sectivorous birds. Under it's pro visions the Department of Agriculture was given authority to determine clos ed seasons and the regulations which were drawn were largely the result of the work in MT. Cooke's bureau.
 He was able to give his scientific work in ornithoIogy and immediately practical aspect by applying his Knowledge and his efforts to the con- servation of American game birds. Among the reports which MT. Cooke wrote for the Department of Agri- culture are Distribution and Migra- ton of North American Ducks, Geese, and Swans Distribution and Migra- ton of North American Rails and Their Allies,'' and "Distribution of North American Shorebirds.'' In the last few years he also wrote for the Atlantic Monthly, the National Geo graphic Magazine, and for Bird Lore.