THE OOLOQIST 



137 



no sound was made. There was one 

 Chickadee that drove the others about, 

 probably a male bird; at least when 

 eating his peanut on the edge of the 

 basket, he would not budge for another 

 bird, and might go down in the basket 

 for another and then another meat. 



The Chickadee on the edge of the 

 basket would sometimes wipe its beak 

 on the basket. Oftentimes they would 

 taste with their bills before they ate. 

 They were very tame and allowed one 

 to move about and make considerable 

 noise in the room as they ate, but if 

 the window was open, they seemed 

 aware of it at once, and would not re- 

 main near the basket. Gentle tapping 

 on the window when the Chickadee 

 was eating with its back towards you, 

 caused the bird to totter on the edge 

 of the basket; it looked around, as if 

 to say, "Please don't," but continued 

 eating. Oftentimes the bird would al- 

 most lose its balance while eating, on 

 the edge of the basket, but it usually 

 would right itself. 



When all the meats were gone, the 

 Chickadee would brace itself on the 

 edge of the basket, with its tail feath- 

 ers spread a bit and sort of cling to 

 the wood of the basket, hammer loud- 

 ly with its beak a minute or two, for 

 more meats. Opening the window to 

 put out more peanuts, the birds had 

 often to be frightened away because 

 they tipped the basket in their eager- 

 ness. 



December 21st. Two of the Chicka- 

 dees got into a fight in the botom of 

 the basket, one had the other down on 

 its back talking to it, ,but soon after- 

 wards one cleared out. The Hairy 

 Woodpecker found the basket two 

 days later, and several times came, 

 always announcing his coming; but 

 he only would alight on the edge of 

 the basket to look in and never re- 

 mained long. The Downy Woodpeck- 

 er was not so shy and after a few 



days would remain several minutes 

 feeding with its tail braced against 

 the inside of the basket. The White- 

 breasted Nuthatch soon found out 

 where the basket was and rather per- 

 sistently came to eat, although I did 

 not allow him to eat when around, as 

 he had his suet and box of nut meats 

 on the back porch. The Nuthatch is 

 so intelligent. He knew that I did 

 not wish to eat, but he was sly, some- 

 times taking two or three minutes 

 trying to reach the basket, coming 

 from the blinds. Oftentimes he spoke 

 and gave himself away. 



When it rained from the west or 

 snowed, the grape basket was slipped 

 inside a covered peach crate; which 

 was also fastened to hold under the 

 window sash. The first time the crate 

 was used, it was three or four minutes 

 before the Chickadees could fathom 

 where the basket had gone. The 

 Chickadees often sat in the little shel- 

 ter, eating in the basket or on its 

 edge, but often would carry away the 

 meats to branches and bushes to eat 

 them in the storm. With the basket 

 within the crate, often the Chickadees 

 would alight on the covered crate and 

 gradually work over to the edge and 

 look inside, which frightened the bird 

 in the basket not a little bit. The 

 Nuthatch also worked its way over 

 the crate in a similar way. 



A most persistent impudent House 

 Sparrow discovered the basket Janu- 

 ary 14th, and for days afterwards, 

 very persistently got the start of me, 

 every time my back was turned She 

 did not look half as wise as the Nut- 

 hatch, and the first few days gave a 

 delighted chirp each time she got near 

 the basket. She finally seemed to 

 realize that the chirp gave her away, 

 and finally approached the basket sil- 

 ently. The House Sparrow was final- 

 ly gotten rid of, by taking the basket 



