INTRODUCTION xxvii 



weather she uses bread made from one third 

 wheat and two thirds Indian meal. 



Her flock, during- the winter of 1895-96, in- 

 cluded, as daily visitors, seven to ten Blue Jays, 

 more than twenty Chickadees, three Downy Wood- 

 peckers, one Hairy Woodpecker, three Nuthatches, 

 more than forty Tree Sparrows, and one Junco. 

 After the first of February new recruits joined her 

 band — more eJuncos, Song Sparrows, Fox Spar- 

 rows, a Redpoll Linnet, and two Red-breasted Nut- 

 hatches ; and in March a Swamp Sj^arrow came. 

 A flock of Siskins were so tame that when the seed 

 she threw to them rattled on their backs, they 

 merely shook themselves. In March a flock of 

 Tree Sparrows sang so cheerfully their chorus 

 ' made the March morning like June.' Before 

 the snow had gone. Purple Finches came, and they 

 remained all summer. On June 15, 1896, the birds 

 that came were Purple Finches, Downy Wood- 

 peckers, Nuthatches, Robins, Orioles, Blue Jays,' 

 Chipping Sparrows, and sometimes a Scarlet 

 Tanager or a Thrush. Then followed the interest 

 of the nesting season, when the old birds brought 

 their broods to the house to drink and bathe. Alto- 

 gether the response to the hospitality offered the 

 birds was so eager that throughout the year the 

 family almost never had a meal by daylight with- 

 out the presence of birds on the window shelf. 



The pleasure Mrs. Davenport gets from her 

 flock is particularly worthy of record, because 



