London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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42 preferable as it provides a secure foot- hold for chickadees, downy and hairy woodpeckers and nuthatches. The holes may be plugged with suet or filled with sunflower seeds with melted suet poured over them. I have tried both these methods and find. that the birds prefer the plain suet. The sun- flower seeds seem more acceptable separately. An ingenious device which prevents the English sparrows from taking the food as well as protectingitfrom rain and snow has been invented by Mr. W. E. Saunders, a prominent London orni- thologist. It consists of a flat slab Slab .--f f 'Q l'J7-?f'ff 2 I 'Pe YY- fi INVERTED FORD 'BOARD with perches below. Melted suet is poured on the underside of the slab, to which it adheres when it hardens. The agility of the woodpeckers and Chicka- dees enable them to hang upside down while feeding. The small amount of work involved is well worth while. As well as pro- viding the pleasure of observing the feeding habits of the birds it benefits the country by preserving the useful birds which might otherwise perish. -BoB McLEoD. How Many of These Birds Do You Know? CAnswers on Page 875. 1. The crazy bird. 2. The furry bird. 3. Scotty at the beach. . The hunter. . You should keep your when this bird is near. . The milkmaid. . The astronomer. . Fun in a field. . Norman, the artist. . Mr. McNeil when he is peeved. Dealer in rags, bottles, old iron, etc. 4 5 hat on . Church dignitary. . Mr. Byles in Auditorium. . The bird that incubates squirrel food. .- Mr. Graham. 6 7 8 9 10 11. 12 13 14 15 16. Frank White. L. S. C. I. ORACLE M DE R Y Q..-4' , X,J WH VI t I 5 S' IYOIA hklnovnyaeaepvl MAPLE LEAVES By FLOYD LAN12, V B The Maple Leaf is the emblem of Canada and all its virtuesg many wonder why. Few realize the unity, strength, and character expressed. The veins, radiating from one central point, hold together and strengthen the leaf. just so, from the icy regions of the Klondike to sunny southern Ontario, do the ties- of manhood bind us together. The clear-cut, beautiful outline expresses character in a marked degree. The far-Hung outstretched tips ex- press Canadian tenacity and ambition. To have and to hold has always been a watch-word among true Canadians, following the example set by the Motherland. The maple tree, the last of the deciduous. trees to drop its burden of foliage, also expresses ten- acity. ' The highly-coloured leaves in autumn express the Canadian outlook. just as the leaves reach the brightest colours, in the same way Canada faces the future with high hopes and with- out fear. The leaf, along with others of her kind, joins the branch by means of the stem. The stem might well repre- sent the silken ties binding the domin- ionslto the island kingdom. In reality, however, the large leaves would over- whelm the tiny branch. Is it strange, therefore, that the maple leaf has been selected as repre- sentative of Canada? There is no other thing in this fair land of ours, from sea to sea, which represents better in miniature Canadian unity, Canadian character, and Canadian loyalty.

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L. S. C. I. ORACLE 41 n - ..i I .- A - N TURAL. .r....L, L A p Editor, BOB MCLEOD, V B FEEDING THE WINTER BIRD Such a vast amount of knowledge is included under the name Natural Science that it would be impossible for any one person thoroughly to peruse the entire subject. But Natural Sci- ence has so many various phases, all of which are intensely fascinating, that there is a subject to suit the taste of every person who does not stop up his ears to the voice of nature or blind himself to her beauties. To my mind the most interesting of these departments is Ornithology, and at this particular season it is appropriate to consider the feeding of winter birds. l an-Ja'-'H'-'-'rv ---l--:i:.T:- - - ' --x 1 ' -.J --., , .5 . , , - - ,........- v,,,., - 5:Z .:.-::7,f- ' j ' ,-1-in ---- ' ,lg--42, li! This is one of the most interesting of winter pastimes, and one which involves very little expense and only a few minutes of work each day. Before the winter storms come many of the birds migrate to the south. On the other hand there are over twenty common species that regularly stay with us during the winter. In London dis- trict alone, thirty-live species were ob- served in a single day. This was the result of the observations of the people taking part in the annual Christmas Bird Census of the Macllwraith Orni- thological Society. During the three winter months, December, January and February, there have been observed in Middlesex County nearly eighty species of birds. t However, although a person cannot expect to have many species of birds attracted to his feeding station, he may be reasonably sure of having at least two or three if he will provide food and water regularly. A great deal of the birds' natural food becomes covered with snow so that many birds perish during the winter from lack of food. For this reason several species forget their fear of man and come to the source of supply. To insure their visits regularly the bird feeder must renew the food. If the birds come and find that there is no more food they are very apt to forsake that particular feeding station and seek food elsewhere. The best and cheapest foods are sunflower seeds and suet. These will attract nearly all the winter birds, although it is wise to supply also millet, for the benefit of such birds as the junco. Enough sunflower seed to last several seasons can be bought for twenty- five cents. An interesting field for inves- tigation would be to experiment with different varieties of foods to find out which are most acceptable. There are several methods of offering suet. A lump of suet may be covered with wire netting and nailed to a tree. this prevents any large birds such as a bluejay from carrying off the Whole piece. On the other hand it is dangerous as the bird's tongue or eye might be injured by sticking to the frosty metal. A safer method is the use of the feeding stick. This can be easily made by boring holes about one inch in diameter and half an inch deep in a small log four or live inches thick and about fifteen inches long. A log with rough bark such as elm is

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L. S. C. I. ORACLE -L3 Mx!! +- Editor, GORDON MCLEOD, IV B THE AUTOGIRO The autogiro has come to the notice of the world in general within the last year. Because of this many persons think it is a recent invention. In fact this is not true, the first flight of the autogiro took place on january 17, 1923, covering a distance of only two hundred yards. Juan de la Cierva, its inventor, had been experimenting along these lines for several years before this initial Hight. Extensive experi- ments continued until the autogiro reached its present state of efficiency. Then it was released to the world. The autogiro is not an aeroplane, but operates entirely upon the prin- ciple of the autogiro. All heavier- than-air craft are supported by some arrangement of wings or surfaces. All have a curve or airfoil which creates a vacuum on the upper surface of the wings. The lift created by this vacuum above the airfoil depends entirely on the speed of the arifoil through the air. O J TR Q lille'- 'V . , X . H-g L l - v g I , KA. Contrary to the popular idea the rotor blades are not motor driven except when preparing for the take-off. The rotation is caused by wind pres- sure due to the movement of the auto- giro in any direction. On the new models a gear is attached to the motor which starts the blades rotating. When a sufficient number of revolutions per minute have been obtained the gear is released by means of a clutch and the autogiro is ready for the take-off. The autogiro depends upon a propellor for forward motion much in the same way as an aeroplane does. The small fixed wing of the autogiro is used merely as a support for the ailerons or wing flaps used for banking when turning. The sharply uptilted wing tips give increased stability. The wide spread of the autogiro's landing gear is also peculiar to it alone. In some of the first models, which were simply aeroplanes adapted for autogiro use, it was found that when landing, especially at low speeds, sudden gusts of wind were liable to strike the rotor blades with such force that when equipped with a landing gear of aver- age spread it was very likely to upset. This was remedied with a very wide landing gear. juan de la Cierva, the inventor of the autogiro, claims that the autogiro is a flying machine which for the man of average health and intelligence is simple, easy, and safe to operate. Up to date the autogiro has made no tremendous achievements in the way of important Hights. Mrs. Amelia Earhart Putnam, of trans-Atlantic fame, was the first person to fly from the Atlantic to the Pacific and return in one of these craft. Later she set a world's autogiro altitude record of