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Bird -Lore 



about the lawn. The birds ate some of the crackers, but none of 

 the bread crumbs. I kept trying to catch them and touched them 

 several times, I did not run after them and make them fly ; I just 

 walked about after them and tried to pick them up. I finally picked 

 up one, a female, as I could see from the coloring. I let her go 

 very soon, as she seemed to be afraid of me. I followed the birds 

 everywhere and soon found out that the males were a great trouble, 

 because they kept trying to entice me away from the females. 



At last I picked up one of the males and he sat on my finger and 

 ate cracker crumbs out of my hand. The Crossbill sat on my hand 

 and did not seem to mind it until I carried him over to my friend 

 for her to see ; then, he was greatly frightened. I let him go as 

 soon as she had seen him. 



W 



Bird-Nesting in Winter 



HEN the leaves fall how many birds' secrets bare limbs tell ! 

 This is the time for collecting birds' nests before they have 

 been wrecked by winter snows and wind. They may readily 



be preserved by making use of 

 the simple wire nest-holder de- 

 scribed in Bird-Lore for last 

 December. A record should 

 be kept of the kind of tree or 

 bush in which they were placed 

 and their height from the 

 ground, as an aid in learning 

 their names. 



When one knows the com- 

 moner nests, such as those of the 

 Robin, Wood Thrush, Vireo and 

 Baltimore Oriole, a census may 

 be made of the number of these 

 birds found about our homes by 

 counting all the nests we can 

 find ; though it must be remem- 

 bered that the first two birds 

 often build a second, and some- 

 times even a third nest. One 

 3'oung observer wrote Bird- 

 Lore that he saw sixteen Ori- 

 ole's nests on the trees in one 



BIRD-NESTING IN WINTER City block. 



