Wisconsin School of the Air; Afield with Ranger Mac; 10

The Wisconsin School of the air invites you to go off field with the ranger mech today boys and girls. Ranger Mac asks What's your question. And now to take you on another radio hike down the nature trail if you're going to need Ranger Mack. Hello boys and girls this is your day up under way this broadcast is in a real sense your broadcast for it is devoted to questions which you sent in. If we had a group of train leaders in the studio this morning answering the questions it would be in a very real sense. Your broadcast we received many questions about 500 of them enough to print a subject for all trips a field for the whole year. You asked all kinds of questions from how deep into the ground do angleworms burrow to how high do birds fly. From this questions sent by the train litters of Russell flat school in Westfield. We have heard that deer have small ears on their feet. Is it true

that to the question asked by Maryland camp mire Why is the ant lion called a doodle bug. As stated in the Teacher's Manual the question should pertain to previous broadcasts of this year. So we have selected what seemed to be the most thoughtful questions that retraced our steps on the trail. Wouldn't it be very interesting to speculate for a little time on the question sent in by Jean Keisler Dixon School Route 8 Milwaukee 13. She asks Why is it that caterpillars turn into butterflies. How do they do it and why. I have often wondered how that creeping creature soft with the juices of life. Not particularly beautiful to behold. Not delightful to hold. I have wondered

and still wonder how such a creature can change into a beautiful breasts in the blue a flying flower are a butterfly. Can any of you answer that question so we will start it with an easier question from Henry a Dyckman Lafayette school Newton. What are the horns of the Great Horned Owl made of. The word horns is misleading for one might think they were made of bone. They are feathers. Tufts of feathers behind the ears that give the appearance of horns. This bird is the largest and most ferocious of our owls. It has a five foot spread of wings which answers your question. Bruce Stanley's center school Prattville it preys on skunks and doesn't seem to mind the smell at all. This answers the question

sent in by Arnold Dorce at Dal Soren Pleasant Hill School Stoughton. While we are on our toes let's answer the question Robert Minto Diamond Valley School Auclair County which reads Is it legal to shoot ourselves during the pheasant season. The Great Horned Owl is not protected is not on the protected list. And can be shot at any time without violating the law. But it is illegal to kill any other owl at any time except by farmers who find them destructive. Judy Warner Lafayette school Newton sent in this question Where do turtles lay their graves. How many are laid at one time. Turtles lay their eggs in the soil generally sandy soil and allow the sun to do the incubating. The number may be as many as 25. Rowan Salter more school

pon is an optimistic sort of a lad. He wants to know what would you do if you hit two deer with one shot. The answer is place your deer tag on the deer of your choice and report the other kilo to the conservation warden immediately. The conservation warden will confiscate the deer. Never have illegal game in your possession. The trail here is a clay Wood School Gillette sent in this question. How old is a fawn before it loses its spots. A farm is born in the spring. The latter part of April already and made by autumn the white spots will have vanished in the change to a winter coat of reddish brown and the form will have gained in size to nearly half that of the mother. This same question was sent in by Suzanne look

KOSKY Ingersoll school of Marathon County Marion McGuire Rick Blake asks why are there more deer today than when Indians roamed our land. When forest covered the land they shaded out the underbrush and which is food for bear no prude no dare. When the forests were removed brush crept in providing abundance of food for Dare more food more dare. Now we seem to have more deer than the browers will support. Hence the law allowing the taking of any deer for our buck. The same question was sent in by Eva Miller St. graded school why Vail and regular of our hickory school serving now a question on geese. Robert Missouri via Vineyard Cooley school near parity Sheen asks

Why do geese fly in NV formation. This same question was sent in by the trail leaders of Salem School Salem Canoga County and West Franklin School Taylor. Both wild geese and ducks when migrating fly in V formation with the leader in case of geese usually an old gander at the apex of the triangle. This is true unless they are flying across to strong wind in which case they fly in single file. The V formation allows each bird in the flock to see the leader. That's one advantage. Birds need a certain amount of wind in order to fly evenly. This is particularly true of heavy birds when flying in deep formation. One bird is not flying in the wake of the one ahead. So the air is not disturbed like water behind a propeller is

disturbed for instance. So each goose can more easily maintain a steady flight. That's the second advantage an advantage of the V formation. Sometimes you will notice that one limb of the V is longer than the other. The longer a limb is on the windward side the side that the wind comes from it's on that side always. I'm wondering whether you can explain why this is so old. The trail here is that hot Ville school toma asked why does the robin. What does the robin do in the south. Does he build a nest. Do people love him. How does he know when to come north. A similar question was sent in by John Breaux lanta Kelly Lake School sering and Mary Graff of hickory school serving the Rambam's. Like all migrating birds live a carefully

free life in the south they build no nests lay no eggs have no family cares and sing no songs. They rode the countryside in flocks feeding and getting fat in the land of plenty storing up energy for the tasks that are ahead of them when it comes time for them to build nurseries and have families. Changes take place in their bodies as it does in all migrating birds. These changes drive them north to the land of their birth. Where there is plenty of room. So each bird can have its own nesting place and hunting territory. Barring death and casualties are all migrating birds return. Which answers your question Laurel Schluter Nicol school Madison. Until a few years ago the Robin was classified as a game bird in the south and was shot for their breasts.

But the federal migratory bird law passed March the 4th 1913 put a stop to that. All migratory birds are now protected by the United States government. And that leads us to a question sent in by Lois Tankel Fitz Spring Valley School marathon. Is that a law in Wisconsin against having a blue bird or any wild bird in a cage. The intent of the federal law of course is to prevent this sort of thing and certainly one's conscience would not allow him to do that anyway. Donald Clayton strawberry school Bellemont wants to know how does one have to be before he can get a hunting license. The answer is 12 years but a body under 16 does not need a license to fish whether with a

cane pole or a rod and reel. This is an answer to the question sent in by Melvin. We each will in school keel Lawrence van Heerden Diamond Valley School. OK our county wants to know where could we find more information about George Washington Carver. There are many books and portions of many other books written about this great man and what he did for the people of the South. If you have a county library one of these books might be secured from that source in case you do not have a county library and write to the Wisconsin traveling Library Commission. A state office building Madison a good book about Carver's life and works. This is certainly state grade school excellent and Stanley Bergen joy abetter of Fairview School reidsville. Ask about the log book on the conservation corner.

How should we go about starting a log book is the question. What should be put into it. How Keep it up. What are some of the things that can be included in a conservation corner. That question is a whole broadcast in itself. First read the pages 35 to 38 in the Teacher's Manual secure a good notebook that will take a paper 8 and a half by 11 inches in size. A Los loose book notebook is the to which pages can be added from time to time is best of course. In this book pupils write their reactions to the broadcasts what they learned and stories of activities that grew out of the broadcast. The log books should include an account of the specimens added to the conservation corner who made the admissions and the use made of these specimens in the school. The book might have at least one good composition about each broadcast as a part

of the record and the fund that you had and the things you learned on nature hikes pictures taken with a camera or drawn by the pupils can be used to illustrate the stories and compositions. Invite parents to school to see the conservation corner and have pupils explain what it contains. Have parents sign the log book and have a pupil write a story about this visiting day of parents. A log on a ship is used to give the day the rate of speed on the daily journey of the ship on an airship. It is a record of the flight in school. It is a sort of diary of the progress made in the study of conservation and nature. The conservation corner is a place to bring outdoors indoors but the specimens brought in should in some way relate to the broadcast label each specimen give the name of the trail hitter who added it to the

corner and make a notation in the log book. It is an enjoyable activity in which all pupils work and learn together. And so we close our broadcast for this week. We have had a wonderful response in the in the sending in of these questions and thank you very much. May you have a joyous Thanksgiving for health and strength and daily food. We praise by name only large. May the Great Spirit put sunshine in your heart today and for evermore heap much the familiar Indian farewell brings us to the end of another trip. A field where the Ranger mech Ranger Mack will be back next week at the same time to be your guide for another radio trip down the nature trail. This is the Wisconsin School of the air.