The Moving Picture World (May 1907)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. 183 Portions of the scenery on the Mexican road between lexico City and Vera Cruz are to be taken, and it is lso probable that scenery on the National Lines and the ;entral will contribute to the film of the picture machine. As an advertisement for Mexico the pictures of scen- ry will probably do more to interest tourists in this mntry than any other one thing, as the scenery along: ie railroads'is unsurpassed for beauty, and no other ountry in the world can offer any stronger contrasts ,an are found in the geological formations of different arts of Mexico. The pictures to be taken are to in- lude scenery in the tropics, in the central and the north- rn parts of Mexico, and will be extensively displayed the United States, Canada and possibly European puntries. *.. * * Mt Pleasant, Mich.—The opera house block in this ty was completely destroyed by fire May 9, involving a iss of about $10,000, practically covered by insurance. he fire started in the Temple Theater on the first floor. his was a five-cent theater running moving pictures, tc The film in the moving picture machine ignited rom the arc lamp and flashed up like an explosion: In short time the entire building was in flames. The round floor of the building was occupied by the Isa- ella County Savings Bank. All the money and fixtures ere saved and transferred to the Commercial Bank uilding, where the bank resumed business. The stock of Miller's millinery store was destroyed by ater, involving a loss of $3,000. On the upper floor Ellington's law office and Dr. Baskerville were burned ut. Hall's barber shop was also destroyed. The loss to ie theater itself is estimated at about $400, covered by ' ■ounce, * * * Housewives of Knoxville, Mt. Oliver and.Carrick bor- ughs, Pa., are mourning the abandonment of the gar- en truck stands and the meat stalls at the Knoxville arket house in Bausman street. The space formerly ccupied by the stands is now being used for a moving icture show on the first floor and a roller skating rink n the second floor. * * * Owosso, May 6.—-"Here, don't you show any more of at stuff in the Methodist Church." This statement not only startled the audience, but al- wst broke up the moving pictures at the Methodist hurch on Saturday night. The statement was caused y the operator putting on some picture's showing some cenes between a business man and his typewriter. The cenes were so objectionable to the teachers of the clas9, nder whose auspices the entertainment was given, that e uttered the protest against the pictures. * * * Morris Goldstein, of' 1796 Brooklyn avenue, visited a roving picture resort at 1780 Brooklyn avenue, to look «r the pictures. He felt some one tug at his vest pocket and turning saw a crook running away iwithhis wallet, which contained sixteen dollars and a half. The thief was not caught. • ■ * * * * An Evening With Birds. —On Monday evening. May 13, Prof. E. H. Forbush, ornithologist of the State Board of Agriculture, spoke before the Clinton, Mass., Historical Society on "Our Useful Birds and How to Attract and Protect Them," dividing his subject: 1, Why protect them? 2, How protect them? 3, and some legal steps necessary for their protection. Most birds are useful and very few harmful. Their usefulness de- pends on the quantity of insects and pests which they de- vour. We can count on the fingers of the hand all the harmful birds in Massachusetts. Many eat more than their own weight every day; a woodcock, weighing but five ounces, has been known to eat ten ounces of earth- worms in a single day. Many of them capture moths. The young robins, under their diet, provided by the par r ent birds, grow in three weeks to be nearly equal in size to the old birds. Young birds appear about the right time to be useful, most of them hatching at the time when there are the most insects for their food. The amount which birds eat in a day, if eaten proportionately by a person, would equal sixty-seven feet of bologna sausage. Some birds by regurgitation dispose of the hairy and bony parts of caterpillars for which^tfiey do not care. • The speaker said the nighthawk is not a hawk at all nor is it a night bird. As showing the appetite of this bird, the speaker said 500 mosquitoes have been taken from the stomach of one hawk. Owls are useful in that they destroy insects and field mice; the horned owl kills skunks, rabbits and chickens, and can very rarely be ap- proached sufficiently near to be captured on the nest by a camera, a view being shown of one thus caught by the camera after weeks of search. Incidentally the speaker mentioned the difficulty of handling owls, and said their grip surpasses the grip of any known secret society. Reference was made to seabirds and to the herring gull; they live in aslt marshes and feed upon the army worm and other pests-, and some of these birds will clear a field of the potato beetle. The wild ducks will be ex- terminated by the hunters unless given protection. A description was given of the various methods by which birds may be attracted, so that they will feed out of the hand and fly into the house, as by improvising a dry goods box, feeding them with suet, erecting birds' Christmas trees, building bird-houses, etc. Mr. For- bush showed a view of his home at Wareham with his contrivances for cultivating the acquaintance of the birds. In a grove near his house 1,000 robins lived and thirty nests were in sight of the house. The importance of teachers instructing their pupils how to attract the birds was mentioned. ) Many birds are killed by cats, one having made a rec- ord of fifty-eight captured in one season. The'necessity