256 



Bird- Lore 



occasionally when we looked out at him, and then all at once darted off, and prob- 

 ably w'as back after more in a short time. 



Gradually the counter came to be an all-year affair, and last summer a family 

 of young Tits were practically brought up on our sill, being taken there by 

 their parents before they possessed the faintest suggestion of a tail, and staying 

 there until that appendage was fully grown. And such a clatter! Their yellow- 

 lined mouths w^ere open from morning till night, and noise entirely out of pro- 

 portion to the size of the birds was issuing from those caverns all the time, except 

 when their proud parents — and they, had reason to be proud of the satin-coated 

 little beauties— were jjutting focd in them. We saw the following birds eating: 



WHITE-BRE.\STED NUTH.\TCH AT A LUNCH COUNTER 

 Photographed by Edwin C. Brown, Minneapolis 



the Downy, Hairy and Red-headed Woodpeckers, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 

 Flicker, Wh te, and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Juncos, Titmice, Black-capped 

 and Carolina Chickadees, Song Sparrow, White-throated and White-crowned 

 Sparrows, English Sparrows galore. Brown Tlirashers, Robin, Catbirds, Towhee, 

 Carolina, House, and Winter Wrens, Blue Jays, and last, but not least, the 

 lovely Cardinal. For several winters we had seven Cardinals regularly, and 

 their glowing beauty, thrown into relief by the snow that was covering ground 

 and trees, was a sight never to be forgot en. 



One of the most interesting things we noticed was the rapidity with which 

 the Nuthatches detected the presence of walnuts. We never saw them unless 

 we put out cracked walnuts; then in less than an hour we would hear a yafik, 

 yank, and there were the Nuthatches. They would remain until the supply 



