20S 



Bird- Lore 



aUraclivc [o the lirowii Thrashers, who arc last hecomiiiK regular visitors 

 to the feeding-shelf in spile of alleged shyness. A j)air of Thrashers made up 

 their mind to winter with us. The female succumbed after Christmas, during 

 the first zero weather, but the male lived on, roosting in some salt hay that 

 packed pipes under the north porch, feeding upon cornbread, meat-scraps, and 

 the like and sunning every day under the shelter of a bank. 



On Monday, .-Xpril i, he began to sing in a broken fashion, while on the 

 loth he burst into full soiii^I This seems to me an im])orlant record, as the 



KlI.KASlXCi A LONG-EARED OWL— A SIl li\ IN EXPRESSION 

 IMiotnfjraphcd by Mabel Osgood Wriglil 



migrant Thrashers are not due until the last week t)f April and rarely sing 

 until Ma\' i. 



During the winter si.x Acadian Owls were recorded. One was picked up in 

 a half-frozen stale and after being thawed out, was put in a cage and fed 

 with pieces of English Sparrows and Starlings that the warden caught for 

 it. After a time the cage was placed in the cellar, which is light and above 

 freezing temperature. The Owl was let fly about, so that it might keep its 

 wing action until the weather was mild enough to liberate it safely. The 

 cellar had been overrun with meadow mice and white-foots. Suddenly the 

 warden discovered that the little Acadian was catching them as cleverly as 

 the most experienced cat or human mouse-catcher. In a short time the cellar 



