Monthly Bulletin 5 



came daily to the Dane place to eat the seed of a box-elder tree. Just 

 lately they have ceased to come, probably because the supply of seeds is 

 exhausted. 



Recently a flock of six or seven has been seen daily in the forenoon 

 at the home of Miss Addie Clarke, on Garfield Street, Watertown. Here a 

 Japanese crab apple tree, which still retains its tiny red apples, attracts 

 them. Apparently they eat the seeds alone, as much of the fruit remains 

 on the tree still, though sheared across by the beaks of the birds, the seeds 

 being taken in every instance. The owners of the place are perfectly willing 

 that bird lovers should come there to watch the birds. 



In Quincy, near the grounds of the new Neighborhood Club, is a group 

 of buckthorn trees of a species not common hereabouts where all buck- 

 thorns are foreigners, imported from Europe. The grosbeaks feed on 

 these berries and a small flock is this year, as it has in years past, visiting 

 them daily. Sometimes the birds visit the feeding places afternoons, but 

 they are much more likely to be found in the morning, say between ten 

 and twelve. 



The evening grosbeaks seem especially fond of sunflower seeds, and 

 people who have had the good fortune to attract them to their feeding 

 stations have in some cases been able to hold them here in the East until 

 long after the usual time of departure. In one instance in Ithaca, New 

 York, and in another in Exeter, New Hampshire, they stayed until about the 

 twentieth of May. Although May is nesting time with them, the birds which 

 linger here have not so far been known to nest, though it is reported that 

 one of the New Hampshire birds was seen with nesting material in his 

 beak. The theory has been advanced, and it seems to have much to sustain 

 it, that the birds have been drawn farther and farther eastward in the last 

 quarter of a century by the increased planting of the box-elder and, per- 

 haps, some other Western trees that hold their seeds in winter. The birds 

 come along from tree to tree and from town to town seeking these seeds, 

 a favorite winter food with them in their home region. 



If Grosbeaks as well as mockingbirds can be added to our Massachu- 

 setts avifauna the bird protectionists will begin to feel that the dawn of the 

 bird millennium is at hand. They may summer as well as winter in time, 

 for a credible witness reports one seen in southern New Hampshire last 

 August feeding on lilac seeds and there is a record of one bird in mid- 

 summer in New York State, many years ago. 



GREAT BLUE HERON. One would hardly expect a Great Blue heron 



to enjoy the winter in New Hampshire, es- 

 pecially this year, yet one elected to winter in Nashua, attracted, no doubt, 

 by the fish hatchery there. He appeared in the early part of the winter 

 and would no doubt have been there now, had he not decided to feed on 

 the finest and most expensive fish in the State, brook trout. Because of 

 this, and because he would not go away in spite of many admonitions, the 

 State authorities, including the State Audubon Society, reluctantly con- 

 sented to have him killed. 



"BILL TAFT." In the letters received at the office on many topics we 



often get delightful stories of bird life and that kindness 



toward it which is manifested nowadays by so many people. "In my own 



