OR. \" IT IK )\J nW 



323 



"A LITTLE PATIENCE WILL TAME THE 



WINTER BIRDS. 



Photographed by A. E. Collins, Chapman, Nt-w York. 



I was able to show^ this flock to several, 

 as they were prompt to a minute in 

 coming. 



On April 20th a female ruffed 

 grouse was found on the porch of the 

 hospital. Part of her tail was missing, 

 — she evidently having been caught 

 and had escaped from some animal. 

 Taken to the woods, she proved able 

 to fly briskly. 



The yellow-bellied sapsuckers were 

 never so abundant. Thirty appeared 

 in one grove at the same time and mer- 

 cilessly attacked the trees, so that the 

 sap was running freely from maples, 

 hemlocks, tulip trees, etc. 



A Lincoln's sparrow^ came on May 

 13th and remained until May 31st. 

 singing freely, always within a few 

 rods of the same place. Its song is 



very noticeable and somewhat remark- 

 able 



A pair of rough-w'inged swallows 

 nested by the creek, in the bank. Ten- 

 nessee w^arblers were numerous during 

 migration. The solitary vireo — rare 

 here, even in migration — was observed 

 in a remote glen building a nest. A 

 l^air of yellow-billed cuckoos, rarely 

 seen here, were noted day after day in 

 the same spot. This fall pippits ap- 

 peared on two successive days, in a 

 field. Robins and bluebirds were re- 

 markably numerous all through the 

 season, and on May 30th a nest of slate- 

 colored juncos containing young was 

 found six miles from here. 



On November i8th a white-throated 

 sparrow was still here, and on Nov. 

 28th, two meadowlarks. There win- 

 tered a flicker, song sparrow, marsh 

 hawk, red-shouldered \hawk, screech 

 owl. barred owl, kingfisher and cow- 

 bird, besides the usual winter birds. 



My feeding stations were patronized 

 freely from October first to the middle 

 of June by downys, chickadees, nut- 

 hatches and jays, and during the win- 

 ter by a brown creeper and hairy wood- 

 pecker and red-breasted nuthatches. 

 The chickadees ate from my hand free- 

 ly. The nuthatches show a preference 

 for sun-flower seeds ; the chickadees, 

 for suet and "Downy" for a fat marrow- 

 bone. The red squirrels interfere with 



A WIDE-AWAKE SCREECH OWL. 

 l'hiitogra])lud by .\. E. Chapman, Collins, New York. 



