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Saving Ontario's Natural Resources X»»«t»»l»»i C C. Tonar Oatario F*<i*ratioii of Angler* (NO. 29) CAME BIRDS FEWER In kit week'i column I told kow m treaty wm sitrncd between Um United States and Canada for ih« protection of migratory birds. For awhile after this became law naturalists thought that the birds w«re amply protected. Sprjng •hooting had bten stopped, close seasons were lengthened and bag limits lowered. The song birds and insectivorous birds were pro- t«cted at all times- and I believe they have increased somewhat with this protction. The game birds, however, did not seem to respond, the decline in their num- bers continuing. This decline was due to a num- ber of causes. Many more hunt- ers were in the marshes each fall. The development of the motor ear enabled city dwellers to reach many areas that were formerly almost sanctuaries. Last year, in the United Stales, over 1,000,- 000 hunters brought duck stamps to place on their licenses as re- quired by law-. This gi-eat army of hunters are taking more than the annual increase each year. A Number of Cauie* Another cause for the decline came from the spread of agri- culture across the prairies. Many nesting grounds were destroyed by the plough or by the ti-amp- Ung of cattle. Drainage schemes, throughout both the Canadian and American west, helped cut down the breeding grounds. About 1930 a series of drought years across the prairies helped to dry-up many lakes and sloughs where duck formerly bred in freat numbers. The birds had few places left where they could Pear their young undisturbed. In- creased numbers of hunters, spread of agriculture and drought were the three gi-eat causes of the decline in numbers of the ducks. Some Ducks Near Extinction The situation in the early thir- ties became acute and some kind of ducks were on the verge of ex- tinction. .Again the biologists stepped in and helped draw up a program that it was hoped would save the birds. The seasons were shortened, baiting and live decoys were foi-bidden and, most imports ant of all, grat areas were set aside as reluges on the migration routes. .Sanctuaries were estab- lished in the winter homes of the birds. There is still some doubt as to the effectivenes.-i of these mraurcs which are still in opera- tion, and it may be that an sn- tirely closed season for a period •f years will be needed if the remnants of the ducks are to bs saved. A Caves Swallow Plane Factories Swiss Mountains House War Industry Safe From Air Raid- ers The existence of ahcraft facior- ies In Sn-itzerland (apable of dls- appearing into Uie sides of uoiin- Isins Uiii-inK bombing raids and wappoariiiK iifl»*r danger passes was revealed last week In an inter- view liy Antolne (j'azda, SwI.ss In- Tsntor. Mr. (lazda, who l.s a director of the ()<-i'lik(iii .Machine Tool work* •t Switzerland, maker of tlie Oer- Hkon raiiid fire i;aunon which has keen Insialinl in "many Kuropj)e<in ylsnes, «alil the disappeurine fac- lorlefl were in the region of hake liUcprne. Si-veral have be«>n built kl the last two years for the Pll- atus Swiss Aircraft Co., which ii building both the Messorschmltl IW and Uie Krench Morane pursuit â- Bder license for the Swiss Afr Force. â- OU. BACKWAHDS ON RAILS The raid pi-oof factories. Mr. Ga-i- 4a said, innsisted of sheds 2£0 ky S2 feet built to roll backward •ad forv.aid on lit Iron rails. In limn of laldH. lin explained. Uie •heds rolled Into caverns like rati- tend tunnels excavate In monn isin sides. Tlia fronts of the sheds facInK •alwaid wpiB aroini- iilaled In pro- tsrt I hem fnim bomlis. Mr, riazrta Mlafed. Th(« sIkmIh ure moved l>.v •B ele<-iri<: engine liisinlliil inside. Tbr SwIsH inventor holds patent' «« Iha system as well as for air- craf! arniuni<-nls. InchiilinR an automatic winr-tlp lt»n wliiih fires a eiinstantly wldfnliiK ili-rular pal- tern of ma('iiine-gun biilU-in In rom- feat to covtr an area on iha »\i',f% •f a pursuit piniie rar-jrl.lK fixed WlnK Runs for iiffAn.tve piiipositr. Col. K. Meaintr, president of the Aero Club of Switierland, aid^cl tn th(» constrncllon of »h* rslrt- proof factories. Model of Plaza, American Side, of New Rainbow Bridge â- â- â- â- â- j ^^^^^^^KKbSIsSS^ ^.^^^^f^^l^^^j ^^K^^^ IHIH ^^^^^^^^^^R-Ti.9 w ^E. m- A '^s^^^^^^hI ^1 Wtttxi id Hi Members of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and the .Niagara Frontier State Park Commission are studying a one-ton repli,ca of .the formal neoclassic structures which will sweep in two curves across the plasa approach at the American terminal of the new Rainbow Bridge. The plaster model of the plaza, ballt to scale to reproduce archi- tecture and sculpture planned fpr the American approach, was fash- ioned in the sculpture workshop of -the New York City WPA Project THE WAR WEE Kâ€" Commentary on Current bvents BATTLE OF BRITAIN REACHINQ A CLIMAX '•There are many indications that, within a very short while, the enemy will make a tre- mendous effort to destroy the British Commonwealth by a aeries of smashing blows of unprecedented severity." â€" Prime Minister Mackenzie King. "When the hour gome's, we will strike decisively . . . whoever believes they will be able to help England must know that In any case every ship with or without convoy that comes, to their help will bs torpedoed." â€" Relchsfuehrer Adolf Hitler. In a speech last week celebrat- ing tlie eighth anniversary of bis rise to power, Relchsfuehrer Adolf Bitter assured the German people that every poeslbllity of Ajmeiicaa Intervention to save Britain had b««n foreseen and that Us frustra- tion was- certain. "There will be Tlctory within the year," he prom- ised. Sea or Air Power? How Germany expected to win t^ elght-monthold Battle of Bri- tain was still a matter for specu- lalon. Did Hitler hope to turn the (rlok by air power? or sea power? His anniversary speech appeared to stress German U-'boats as the iMme weapon of Nazi w-arfare; the aJr force as secondary. In any event, neutral military ex- pects last week were virtually all agreed that both would be used In attempting to deliver a knockout iblow to England, in the very near futuie. Invasion appeared Inevit- able, either with or without pro- limin.iry "softenlng-up," unless Hit- ler made a. last-mluute decision that the task was too big for hlni. British Are Ready A gloomy picture, that. "Time" magazine, Fobruary 3, was a bit more optimistic: "No British Army even in the first world war has even been sn big (4,000,000 men un- der arms); none has ever had so much practice for such a bitter defensive Job. The British expect that the Germans may succeed in ostablisihing a few beach-hpads. H they do, the defence counts on (1) the Navy to cut off water-borne supply; (2) the R. A. F. to resist alr-iborne supply and reinforce- ments as well as attacks from their air armies totalling IS.OOO planes; (3) tlie Army to crush the invad- ers on land." Diversion To The South The Canadian expert on military . strategy, W. R. Plewman, wrote last week that Germany -was hav- ing to dh-ert so many first-line planes to the southern front to Italy's aid, that the late winter or early spring attack prepared against Britain could not help but •he weakened appreciably, or post- poned for some time. To a great extent, the timing of the Nazi Invasion attempt would have to be linked with the course of events In the Mediterraneans and In the Balkans. Last week Hit- ler could be seen ti-ylng to brow- beat PraJice Into allcwlng htm troop passage through the FVench By Fred Neher "He only gav* u* on* straw with our tca-crsam toda ! !" colony of Tunisia, so that be tuuld reach Beugazl before the Biltlsh and prevent their gaining control of tho whole of eastern Afrlsa. To Bulgaria, Germany was applying the screws afresh, demanding a rlght-ofway through that country to seize Salonika and outflank the Cn'uks. 'Beer Barrel Polka' War's Biggest Hit "South of the Border" Runs A Close Second in England's Song-Hit Parade Biggest sons hit of this war Is the "Beer Barrel Polka." Canadian soldiers sang It when they debarked in England. Aus trallan and New Zealand soldiers siing It when they filed down the gangplank In the Middle East. Eng- lish soldiers sang It as they trudg ed through the mud of France. x\nd shelter-dwellers in London sing It while the boma>8 whistle down ajbout them. Running a close second on Eng- land's "hit parade" Is the Amerlcau best-seller "gouth of the Border," which, Incidentally, was written by England's best known song- wrltlng team, Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr. It has sold nearly a half-million copies. Thii-d place probaJbly goes to "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Good-Bye," with which Grade Fields", the English comedienne, sang her way Into the hearts of the British army, navy and air force. Some 430,000 copies have been sold. NOTHING LIKE TIPPERARY Carr, working alone, wrote the song that Is In fourth place, "Somewhere In France," whose popularity waned after the British retreat lo Dunkirk. But none of the songs of this war approaches the sales of Eng- land's hits of the Great War. For Instance, "It's a Long Way to Tlp- perary," sold 5,000,000 copies, "Roses of Picardy," 3,000,000 aud "Keep the Home Fires Burning," mora than 1,000,000 copies. Songs symlbollzlug the universal hope for better days ahead are finding a ready market. One pub- lisher commissioned Irving Berlin to write a song expreseing this thought. Berlin produced "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow," w-liich sold 100,000 copies. Othei-8 that have sold well in- clude "It's a Hap Hap Happy Day" and "We'll Go Smllhig Along." Poet's Licence Years ago at a dinner, Robert W. Service heard a sbory of the Yukon which gave him an idea for a poem. In a bank ledger he saw a name which struck him as suitable for his principal char- actei', so he wrote about "Sam McGee from Tennessee," who was "always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold htm like a spell," and told in verse how, at his cremation, Sam admitted that he was comfortably warm at last. Through this poem the or- iginal Sarn McGee becamo fa- mous in the Yukon, although he was mining copper instead cf gold, and came from Ontario in- stead of Tennessee. He died re- cently, but was not cremated. 250,000 Viewed Quints in 1940 Dr. A. R. Dafoe, physician to the Dionne quintuplets, announc- ed that during 1940 approximate- ly 250(000 persons visited the Da- foe Hospital at Callander to see the five little girls, now six years old. Dr. Dafoe said that the number of American visitors declined from previous years but that the number of Canadian visitors showed an increase. Of the total last year, 25 per cent of the visi- tors were from the United States and 75 per cent, were from Can- ada. Ordinarily, he said, the per- centages were the opposite. Men, Wolves Fight For Our Reindeer Unceasing Contest Is Urged In Northland Between Man And Beast of Pray For Arc- tic Animals For years men and wolves have been fighting an Arctic battle in the course of a Gov- ernment scheme to provide Es- kimos with reindeer herds and the fight is still going on. Everett Hogan, assistant fore- man at the Federal Government reindeer reserve near Aklavik in the Northwest Territories for the past three years, said recently the wolves constantly trailed the Government herd jn Its trek from Alaska. Patiently, day and night, they watched for oppor- tunities to strike down a deer. WATCH NEVER RELAXES Wolves are the main reason for the 24-hour watch kept on the reindeer by the four Canadian employes and their Eskimo and Lapp helpers. The reindeer drive from Alaska started in 1929 and was completed in 1935, when the round-up showed 2,960 on the Canadian reserve. In 1940 there were C,635 animals. Since 1929 the deer have never been out of sight of their guar- dians, even when huddled together in screaming blizzards at 50 be- low zero. On such nights, said Mr. Hogan, the wolves would choose to strike. There now are three herds, the main g^roup on the eastern channel of the Mackenzie River, No. 1 native herd on the Ander- son River, and No. 2 herd near Hbrton River. On each herd the same increasing watch is kept. SHROVE TUESDAY Fob. 25th A Pancake's Beat Friend. Some Troops Wear did Pink Garters Canada's hockey-playing sol- diers in the Canadian Corps leagues in England hold up their stockings with swanky pink gar- ters that once belonged on wo- men's girdles. Oscar Pearson' of Toronto is responsible. He runs the leagues for the troops on behalf of the Bee Hive oo\A«'' Syrup Y.M.C.A. and found hpckey .stocking garters could not be bought in England. So Oscar obtained dozens of women's girdles, cut off the gar- ter -straps and sewed them on cloth belts. The players say the "girdle garter" is a "nifty." Modern 'Fauntleroy* Can Keep Long Curls Ivan Barzela Heiderich can keep his long golden curls. The 33-ycar-old Marietta, Ok- la., farmer who feared he would lose his long-cherished tresses to the United States army, was re- jected by an induction board, which decided the greater useful- ness lay in his present occupa- tion. "When I was a little boy," he -said, explaining his devotfon to his shoulder-length hair, "I had beautiful curls and my mother wouldn't cut them." THIS CURIOUS WORLD AMHRJCANS CHEWED ABOLfr 6&fOOO,OCX> POUNDS OF C3£J/V> IN 1937. DO PARAcMures HAVE A NGL£ IN THE CENTER./* ANSWER. Without a hole in the canopy of a parachute, the com- pressed air would be forced to escape from the edges, thereto causing the passenfer to swing back and forth like a pendulum. NBXT: Where io carrots get their namet WINSTON CHURCHILL-IV Gallipoli and Disaster OulUicak ol the first world wai in 1914 fduiid Chiircliill ready for the finish fight with the new and powerful Germany navy. But the war brought, too, the firft great disaster in ('hurch ill's career - the Gallipoli cnnipaign. Origirittor of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, Churchill un.iii^lly was made the scapegoat when i! ended in ghasjy failure, due largely to inconi- p.'tcnt gen'^rals and disunicn at home. Churchill was forced lo iciga his office. But the irrepressible Churchill could not lone be kept down. He bounded back into public office in 1917 as minister of munitions. In 191S ho was elevated to the position of secre- tary of State for war. The posl-war collapse of the Coal- ition cove nment of David Lloyd George swept Churchill from office when he w-as defeated for rc-e'oction hv a Prohibitionist. .After two defeats Churchill found himself inclined to hij old party â€" a Tory again. « I t