Rural School Leaflet 



819 



branch to branch. I pounded on the window and called out "Go away!" 

 in both the crow and the English language, all in vain. One braver or 

 hungrier than the. others, with one defiant eye on me, flapped confidently 

 down and sought to carry the suet off in his beak; to his surprise it was 

 tied on. That seemed suspicious and when we raised the window and 

 leaning far out explained matters, he Hfted slowly with a jeering " caw " 

 that said plainly, " I'll call sometime when you are not at home," and 

 he and his companions disappeared 

 up the gorge. The invited guests 

 at the suet table were less disturbed 

 than was I, and I suppose it is 

 rather inconsistent to feed the 

 chickadees and let the crows go 

 hungry. But this suet will last 

 the little birds a month, while it 

 would hardly furnish a breakfast 

 for three crows; and in philan- 

 thropic enterprises one is obHged 

 to draw the line somewhere even 

 at the cost of consistency. 



To return to my nuthatch — • 

 who has, by the way, just 

 hammered off a piece of suet and 

 thrust it into a crevice of the 

 bark on the tree bole. Why does 

 he do that? Is it for convenience 

 in eating, or is it an attempt to 

 store up some of his dinner for 

 future need? Anyway, it is bad 

 manners, like carrying off fruit 

 from table d'hote. But he is polite 

 enough in another respect: every 

 time after eating the suet he wipes his beak on his branch napkin with great 

 assiduity, first one side and then the other, almost as if he were sharpening it. 

 The woodpeckers are similarly fastidious in cleaning suet off their beaks. 



The loud note of the nuthatch, which seems out of proportion to the 

 size of the bird, is by no means its only note. Yesterday we observed 

 a pair hunting on the branches of an elm over our heads, and they were 

 talking to each other in sweet confidential syllables, "wit, wit, wit," en- 

 tirely different from the loud note that is meant for the world at large. 



The nuthatches and chickadees hunt together all winter. This is no 

 business partnership, but one of congeniality based on similar tastes. 



Chickadee entering its nest 



