Entertainment in Winter 141 



then experiment for himself as much as time 

 and inclination will permit. 



In addition to food, many birds will appreciate 

 a little grit which is often hard to get in winter. 

 Sand is best, perhaps, but coal ashes will do and 

 a flock of crossbills which made us a long visit 

 a year or two ago, spent hours every day picking 

 up particles of mortar which we obtained from 

 some old bricks and pounded up with a hammer. 

 We might never have guessed how fond they were 

 of this particular kind of grit, had we not seen 

 them swarming over a ruined building, and dis- 

 covered with the aid of a field-glass that appar- 

 ently they were nibbling the mortar which held 

 the bricks together. We got some of this mortar, 

 pounded it up, and scattered it on well-trampled 

 snow in the garden and down came the cross- 

 bills, not only that day but every day for weeks. 

 The flock usually arrived between half-past seven 

 and eight o'clock in the morning, and were en- 

 gaged in eating mortar until between one and 

 two in the afternoon, when the greater part of 

 them disappeared in the evergreen forest nearby, 

 not to be seen again until the following morning. 

 They became very fearless, coming to windows, 

 allowing us to walk about among them when 

 they were feeding, alighting freely on our hands 

 and heads, and even permitting us to pick them 



