Bird-Lore's Twentieth Christmas Bird Census 351 



These records will be published in the February issue of Bird-Lore, and 

 it is particularly requested that they be sent to the Editor (at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York City) by the first possible mail. It will 

 save the Editor much clerical labor if the model here given and the order of the 

 A.O. U. 'Check-Lisr he closely followed.— ]. T. N. 



A Winter Feeding-Place for Birds 



By VERDI BURTCH 



With photographs by the Author 



I 



a 



F YOU want to see birds in winter, 

 advertise by putting out food where 

 they can get it and be safe from 

 cats and dogs, and you will be surprised 

 to observe how quickly it will draw 

 customers and how they will increase in 

 numbers day by day. 



In cleaning grain, our local elevator 

 accumulates quantities of weed seeds 

 which we were able to obtain for the 

 LAPLAND LONGSPUR ^^j^j^^^ ^y^ scattered a lot of this seed 



near an unused building which stands at the edge of the field. Then we cut 

 holes in the side of the building for our camera lens and for observation, and 

 here Mr. C. F. Stone and myself had great sport for more than a month. 



The English Sparrows were first to find the seed but the Tree Sparrows 

 were not far behind; then a Song Sparrow came, and soon a few Horned Larks 

 appeared. 



Every day the birds increased in numbers. February 27, 1916, was very cold, 

 with brisk northwest wind and little flurries of snow. We were in the build- 

 ing nearly all day and kept a good supply of feed out all of the time. We now 

 had a fine bunch of Tree Sparrows and Horned Larks, and soon a bunch of 

 Snowflakes dropped in, and what a scramble there was, Tree and English 

 Sparrows, Horned Larks and Snowflakes in a seething, bubbling mass, flying 

 up and over each other in their eagerness to get the food. Then suddenly, as 

 if at a signal, they would all fly up and away, the Sparrows to the nearby 

 bushes and the Larks and Snowflakes away down in the field wlu-rr tlu'\- lit in 

 the snow. Soon a Tree Sparrow would come back, then several more, then 

 the Larks would come in little short runs, then the Snowflakes, and lastly 

 the English Sparrows. 



Some birds were cjuite pugnacious, flying at any other bird that came near. 

 The Tree Sparrows and the Song Sj)arrow were more so than the Larks and 

 Snowflakes, but the l-jiglish Sparrows seldom showed fight. The Song Sparrow 



