On the Trail of the Evening Grosbeal; 



433 



A camera was concealed in a box near the feeding-log and several photographs 

 of them taken; but it was a long distance from the house and the light was 

 unsatisfactory. We wanted them nearer, if possible at the feeding-station in 

 the yard, which though less than three hundred feet up the hill, and though 

 always well supplied with seed, they had not found. Hoping to bring them up 

 by gradual stages, we removed the food from the lower station and started 

 another about fifty feet up the hill. The next morning they returned to the 

 accustomed place, but there was no food for them. We thought they surely 

 would scout around and find the new station; but not so, they simply deserted 

 us. Thoroughly dismayed by our experiment, we quickly replaced the food at 

 the lower station and were rewarded by having them back again the next 

 morning. We now scattered seed all the way up the hill, making small piles 

 at intervals of about fifty feet. This afforded a glorious time for the Spar- 

 rows, and they rejoiced at the tops of their shrill voices. We feared lest they 

 would devour all the seed before the Grosbeaks could find the upper stations, 

 but it worked another way. The Grosbeaks came to the lower station where 

 there was but little seed, heard the Sparrows at the one above, and quickly 

 joined them. From that they moved up to the next, and so on until, almost 

 before we realized it, they were at the uppermost station, not twenty-five feet 



UNTIL THE FIRST OF APRIL THEY FREQUENTLY FED TOGETHER ON THE LOG 



from the house. Here was all the food they could eat, and they were never 

 allowed to go hungry during the rest of their stay. From that time on we 

 could watch them with the greatest facility, for they often perched in a maple 

 tree within fifteen feet of the porch. 



Between the first and the middle of April, the Juncos and Tree Sparrows 

 left the feeding-station and the company of the Grosbeaks for their more 



