The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-21
BIRD CENSUS WAS TAKEN TO PREVENT
 LOSS OF SPECIES
Less Than Two Ounces of Fuel Form of Body Fat
 Garry Some Birds.

Studies into the romance of the air, bird flights beside which the longest range Of the aeroplane are insignifi- --cant, are what distinguished the work of the late Wells Woodbridge Cooke from that of other Sornithologists and made him known to many who knew little of what he accomplished in pro viding she1tersffor shore birds and wa ter fowl From his twenty-third year, MT. Cooke devoted himself to the fa- nous bird census with which his name has become associated and to studies of the migratfonk of the va rious species which bore fruit in epoch-makfflg reports to the Depart ment of Agriculture.
 Born January 25, 1858, in Massa- chusetts, he was taken at an early age to Ripon. Wisconsin, and attend ed Ripon College where he.was grad uated in 1879. He was given his de- gree there in 1882, and then entered the Indian service in Minnesota and what was then Indian Territory. Af- ter some years he became professor of agriculture and director of the Uni versity experimental station at the University of Vermont.
 subsequently while he was professor Of agriculture at the Agricultural Col { f1ege of Fort Collins, Colorado, he de- veloped his system of recording bird population and flights, for which he became well known.
 His services were recognized by the American OrnithologicaI Union, which made him 9 fellow, by the Audu- bon Society of which he was always a leading member, and by the Bio1ogi- cal Society of the District of Co1um- bia, of which he. was treasure His studies of the distribution of birds in the District of Columbia are said to be more complete than similar stu dies for any other part of the United States.
 Biological Survey Bureau.
 In 1900 and 1 so1 MT. Cooke engaged in research work for the Pennsylva- nfs, State College. The American Or nitho1ogfcal Union had in the mean while been developing a plan, origin ated in an idea of MT. Cooke; for a bureau of biological survey of the De- partment of Agriculture. This bu- reau was finally established and in 1901 he became an expert assistant of biological survey, and was made assistant biologist the next year.
 There is little evidence in the lu- rnineus accounts of bird migrati ons which he wrote and illustrated with maps, /of the painstaBing work that went into them To collect informa- ton, MT. Cooke not only spent days and nights in lighthouses observing the passage of birds, their flight, and occurrences but he enlisted students and enthusiasts in all parts of the country who were stimulated by his enthusiasm to keep careful records of bird flights and of routes.
 He sent out large blanks to be filled in with. the names of birds, descrip- tions of them, the dates of their oc- currence or passage, their habits. and breeding places. Lighthouse keepers 4 particularly, contributed to his in formation, and, in some cases they sent to him the local names of birds which required further research on his part ford determination. Thus, from Louisiana came accounts of the s'papabotte" and from southern Mani toba and Saskatchewan of the 'tquai1- Iie," both being local names for the upland blower.
 Of the almost unbelievable distances which the upland p1over traversed, MT Cooke wrote in 1914. in a report on "Our Shore-birds and Their Flu .ture.y
 Night Passage of Birds
 Most migratory birds" he says, Gin crossing large areas of water, start soon after ~sundowns and reach their destination before morning. But the Pacific golden blower flies the whole day as well as the-Who1e night, and, as it probably does not exceed a speed or nIIy I11llSS dn hOuI, Lh0 SluS1e flight from Alaska to Hawaii consumes nearly twice IWenty-four hours How superior the birds mechanism to the best aerop1ane yet made! These feathered aeronauts remain in the air several times as long as the longest en- durance test of the modern aeroplane, and there is much the same difference in the efficiency of the two machines.
 The too-and-fro motion of the birds wing would seem to be an un- economical way of applying power since all the force required to bring the wing forward to begin the stroke is more, than wasted. because it i'm