JOURNAL OK MAINK ORNITIIOI.OGICAI, vSOCIKTY. 53 



Sparrows, Song Sparrows and Robins were very al^undant here at 

 that time, and many would have died had not several families 

 scattered wheat, corn and bread crumbs for their use. Never before 

 in the history of our city have so many people been interested in the 

 protection of bird life. It will be no exaggeration to state that loo 

 families kept watch and ward over their feathered friends during 

 this inclement period. With my snowshoes, I tramped down a space 

 about 50 feet long Ijy 6 or 7 wide, and scattered cracked corn, oats, 

 and hungarian seed over the area, leaving a large pile of seed just 

 back of our kitchen window. The further end of this space just 

 reached to the corner of a neighbor's garden where there were apple 

 trees. At the time of scattering the seed, there were many birds in 

 the trees, but they flew away when I came near. But 20 minutes 

 after I came into the house, there were by actual count, 120 birds 

 helping themselves to the scattered seed. This place was kept well 

 littered with seed until the snow had all melted away, and the birds 

 had betaken themselves to other foraging grounds. There was not 

 one minute in the day during the time the snow lasted that some 

 birds, often 200, would not be seen eating. It was indeed a cheer- 

 ful sight. 



My attention was first directed to a rare bird through Mr. 

 Richards, who saw it several times eating the seed which he had 

 scattered for the Juncos and Sparrows. From Mr. Richards' 

 description, I was unable to identify the bird, and he was unable to 

 find anything in the Coues' Key to which it was referable. I spent 

 several hours puzzling over Mr. Richards' description, which was 

 very accurate, for he saw the bird many times and made a drawing 

 of it. I watched for it on my grain patch at home, and was at last 

 rewarded by its appearance. When I saw it, I was glad that I had not 

 attempted to name it before, and twenty minutes' study were needed 

 to come to the conclusion that the living bird within ten feet of me 

 was a partial albino vSlate-colored Junco. This identification was 

 made positive by the outer white tail feathers, its white bill, black 

 feet and legs, and by its keeping with other Juncos. 



Miss Audrey Hunt, of Gardiner, recently broke an egg for cook- 



