314 Bird -Lore 



seed — the food is hardly put out before a bird is at it. The females and young 

 are generally the first to come to a new feeding-spot, being tamer, more alert, 

 and fully as greedy as the adult males, who can best defend their right to a 

 place on a frequented window. But it was the males who discovered a pan of 

 water, set out on March 30, not five minutes after its appearance. And there 

 was nothing stolid about the eagerness with which they daily, as soon as fresh 

 water was put in, surrounded and drank from it. 



About March 12 they seemed tamer than at a later date. Possibly there 

 were too many visitors after the fame of their performance spread. Certainly, 

 an effort to catch and band one or two birds made them more wary, though they 

 appeared in larger numbers than ever. On April 4, a bird, female or immature, 

 was caught in an improvised trap made of a cucumber frame and was banded. 

 He was not badly frightened, for in less than two hours he was feeding on the 

 site of his capture; and his companions paid not the slightest attention to the 

 affair, except to fly up for a few moments. The next morning we caught an 

 adult male and banded him. He flew to the bush nearest the window where he 

 was released and immediately joined the flock, which was then picking at a 

 freshly uncovered flower-bed in the next yard. So little did the band disturb 

 him that he apparently did not even pick at it, as we had seen the other bird 

 do. At 1.30 that afternoon he was eating seed on the exact spot where he was 

 caught in the morning — the trap had permanently vanished from the scene, as 

 two birds were all we wished to band — and beside him, with two other birds, 

 ate the banded gray bird. 



If the banded birds come back next fall, or if any of their flock-mates do, 

 we promise a table spread to repletion. No objection to any Grosbeak's bring- 

 ing a large family of children, or friends ; all Grosbeaks made welcome. Improve- 

 ments to the premises will be. undertaken in their interest, such as a sunflower 

 plantation, mountain-ash, box elder, and more buckthorn — which last, 

 Grosbeaks are respectfully requested to share with the Waxwings. 



