The Audubon Societies 153 



to see her fly, and we think she fell against the house, and that a bone was 

 broken in her foot. She began to droop and died the next evening. 



Notice in the picture how my Httle friend would open her mouth when- 

 ever the Swallow opened hers to be fed. I flattened the ends of a hairpin and 

 used it to feed the flies to her. — L. G. Hungate, Walla Walla, Washington. 



■ [This experience with a baby Swallow is quite typical of young passerine birds in 

 captivity. Whether the fledgling would have survived, had it been successfully freed, 

 without first accustoming it to life in the open, even had it not been injured, is extremely 

 doubtful. In Tlie Wilson Bulletin, Vol. XXVI, Dec, 1914, No. 4, there is a very instruc- 

 tive study of Hermit Thrushes which were kept in captivity and afterward freed. 



The Uttle girl in the picture illustrates most aptly and charmingly the intense 

 interest that a child usually shows in intimate contact with Nature. Not only her 

 mouth but her left hand express the almost breathless sympathy with which she is 

 following every movement of the baby Swallow. — A. H. W.] 



WINTER PENSIONERS 



Dear Bird-Lore The ground is covered with snow and we have been putting 

 crumbs on a stump in the yard and on the window-sills to feed the birds. 



The Juncos have been around all winter. 



There has been a White-breasted Nuthatch around all to-day, and he would 

 fly down on the window-sill and get a crumb, and then go to a tree and eat it, 

 and come down and get another crumb and go to another tree and eat it, and 

 come and get another for five times. 



There has been a Cardinal around eating some grain a man threw out by 

 the chicken-yard. The Cardinal and a Tom Tit and some Juncos and some 

 Tree Sparrows were eating the grain together. — George F. Towne, Jr., age 

 8 (3rd grade), Baltimore, Md. 



[Winter pensioners are bound for the north now, and their places are being taken 

 by eager migrants, who will pay little if any heed to the most inviting lunch-counters. 

 It is very instructive to compare the feeding- habits of winter visitors or residents and 

 spring migrants. — A. H. W.] 



THE CHICKADEE 



The Chickadee sang when I was near Looking around I saw a nest 

 And all the notes that I could hear In which her babies were at rest 



Were Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Peeping Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. 



As I was wandering around nearby The nest was cozy and lined with 



I suddenly saw her mount toward gray 



the sky And I could hear the baby birds say 



Saying Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. 



— Elizabeth Arnold (age 9 years). Providence, R. I. 



