Our Winter Guests 333 



nests are often used by other birds. The following birds have been found using 

 them for their own nests, but usually, if not always, nesting on the top, having 

 either torn off the roof, or else it has been broken down by age or the weight 

 of winter snows: Great Horned Owl, Long-eared Owl, Screech Owl, Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk, Sparrow Hawk, Bronzed Crackle, Mourning Dove, English 

 Sparrow, and I once found one which I thought had been used by a Red-tailed 

 Hawk, but could not be sure, because the nest was not in use at the time I 

 found it. There was circumstantial evidence that the nest had been used by 

 either Hawks or Owls, and the Redtails were about. Rockwell says that 

 Sparrow Hawks prefer a nest that is roofed over. The most peculiar "bird" 

 I have heard of as occupying a Magpie's nest was mentioned to me by Mr. C. E. 

 Aiken. He told me that a man hunting near Colorado Springs was passing an 

 old nest, looked up and saw a pair of ears and a nose, shot at them, and out 

 tumbled a Cray Fox! 



Like all the Crow and Jay tribe, Magpies are omnivorous, and also more 

 or less mischievous. They will rob other birds' nests of eggs and young, steal 

 eggs from the poultry-yard, and are said to have a bad habit of picking at 

 raw sores on horses and cattle, on the range or in a pasture. They feed on car- 

 rion when it is to be had, and thus do good as scavengers, and no doubt eat 

 many harmful insects. 



Our Winter Guests 



By ELIZA F. MILLER, Bethel. Vermont 



FOR several years it has been our habit to feed the winter birds, but until 

 the winter of 1911-12 we have failed to attract others than Chickadees 

 and White-breasted Nuthatches as regular boarders. We have a shelf 

 arranged against the kitchen window that opens upon a covered piazza, so 

 that it is always protected from storms, and here our birds feed without 

 fear of us. 



In 1906, we learned that Chickadees could be tamed to eat from our hands, 

 and, every year since then, we have had from two to six or seven that would 

 do this; and some of them easily learn little tricks that are amusing and 

 show much intelligence. I once held a piece of butternut meat (their favorite 

 food) in my teeth, and invited one to come. Chickadee saw and heard and 

 came, but could see no place to stand. He went to the top of my head to 

 consider, but could not think it out, and soon left. I held my finger hori- 

 zontally before my mouth, and he came at once, alighted on it and took the 

 nut from my teeth. After that, they learned to take food from my lips while 

 hovering, or sometimes they grasped my chin with their scratchy little 

 nails. 



They believe in "suggestions," these birds. I have sometimes let down 



