The Boat-Blind in the Snow 



337 



TREE SPARROWS 



It was not long after the blind 

 was installed, with plenty of 

 seeds of millet and hemp, etc., 

 before the Tree Sparrows, Juncos, 

 and Song Sparrows began to 

 come regularly. However, the 

 real visitors that I hoped for in 

 this inviting spot were the Red- 

 polls. I had seen them in this 

 region before, and I was parti- 

 cularly anxious that they should 

 pay this blind a visit and allow 

 me the pleasure of adding their 

 pictures to my collection. 



The boat-blind was arranged 

 with the front toward the north, 

 but the low sun cast a long 

 shadow. To get the birds to feed 

 above this shadow I built a snow 

 pyramid high enough so that 

 they were in sunlight whenever 

 the sun shone. Frequent thaws 

 and blowing snow made many 

 changes in the original pyra- 

 mid, but between us we 

 managed to keep the apex high 

 enough to avoid the shadow. 





REDPOLLS 



