Chapter I: Front Matter

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JACK MINER AND THE BIRDS

JACK MINER HIMSELF

_Photo by his friend Frank Scott Clark, Detroit_]

JACK MINER AND THE BIRDS

And Some Things I Know about Nature

By

JACK MINER

of Kingsville, Ontario, Canada

Toronto The Ryerson Press

NOTE—This volume is copyrighted, as noted below. Parties are warned against the unwarranted reproduction of photographs or articles from it. Application for permission for such reproduction should be made to Manly F. Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada.

Printed in Canada by the Ryerson Press

Copyright, Canada, 1923 by Jack Miner

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CONTENTS

PAGE
Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER
I. “Who is Jack Miner?” 1

II. My First Pets 4

III. Market Hunting 6

IV. Our Faithful Dogs 8

V. Bob White Quail 10

VI. Raising English or Ring-necked Pheasants in Canada 19

VII. The Natural Enemies of our Birds 22

VIII. Some Things I have Known Cannibal Birds to Do 25

IX. Weasels, and How to Destroy Them 31

X. Robins 36

XI. The Bluebirds 41

XII. Woodpeckers 45

XIII. The Swallow Family 47

XIV. Wild Duck Hunting 52

XV. Knowledge and Ways of the Wild Duck 58

XVI. Do Birds Return to Their Same Homes? 63

XVII. Birds as Missionary Messengers 68

XVIII. How Wild Ducks Conceal Their Nests 72

XIX. My Last Distinguished Family of Pet Ducks 75

XX. Ducks’ Love Soon Ceases 79

XXI. The Migration of Ducks 81

XXII. Can Birds Smell? 88

XXIII. The Canada Goose 92

XXIV. Nesting Canada Geese 109

XXV. Our Model Canada Goose 113

XXVI. Do Birds Have a Language? 118

XXVII. The Career of Jack Johnson 123

XXVIII. The Migration of Our Canada Goose 130

XXIX. Catching and Tagging the Wild Goose 142

XXX. Game Protection 147

XXXI. Creating a Bird Sanctuary 151

XXXII. Our Native Swans 158

XXXIII. The Line of Migration 162

XXXIV. Inquiries and Answers 163

XXXV. Sportsmanship 172

XXXVI. Conclusion 178

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Jack Miner Himself Frontispiece

Wild Geese at my Home

Looking Over Esau’s Line Fence at the Writer 2

Quail Self-serving Feed-rack 12

Hawk and Owl Trap 13

Shelter and Feeding place for Quail 14

Quail Egg-shells, After Hatching 15

Young Quail, Just Four Weeks Old 17

Eating from the Hand that once Held the Gun 17

Under Side of Weasel Trap and Harbor 34

Jasper Feeding the Robins 39

Snowball 40

Tile Bird Houses 42

“Why Didn’t You Knock Before You Opened the Door?” 43

The English Sparrows’ Victims 44

How the Woodpecker Gets the Worm 46

The Martin “Castle” 51

Old Duck and Young Waiting at the Gate 60

Katie Feeding out of My Hand 64

Polly and Delilah 66

Showing Both Sides of Aluminum Tags 70

Puzzle: Find the Duck’s Nest 73

Where the Duck’s Nest Was 73

Duck, with Young, Crossing the Field 74

The Mulberry Family 76

Map Showing Migration of the Ducks 86

The Canada Goose 93

Total Flock of Geese, 1909 99

The Flock of Geese, 1910 100

The Flock of Geese, 1911 102

David and Jonathan 103

The Death of Jonathan 104

Geese Rising from the Pond 106

On Guard 110

A Gallant Veteran 111

With the Little Ones Between 112

Faithful After Death 127

Map Showing Migration of the Geese 131

The Indian Achimaya 136

Indian Woman, Fort George 137

Returned Duck and Goose Tags 141

My First Successful Catch of Wild Geese 143

A Big Catch in the Big Net 145

Children with Bird houses, Peterborough, Ontario 150

Geese in Flight at the North Pond 152

Geese on the South Pond 153

Scotch Pines 156

These were “Wild” Swans 159

Wild Wing-tipped Swans 161

Martin House 169

I Love the Birds, and They Have Come to Me 175

I Plant Roses, and They Arch My Path with Fragrant Bloom 176

But Best of All, I Love Boys, and Boys Love Me in Return 177