12 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



"An interesting experiment with six or eight chickadees at our office 

 window shelf showed that these birds carried off a thousand sunflower seeds 

 at the rate of a hundred every fifteen minutes. Very few of these seeds were 

 eaten at the shelf, but they were carried away and concealed in crevices of 

 trees and shrubs, mostly within one hundred and fifty feet of the window 

 shelf. 



"Predatory animals have been held fairly well in check here during the 

 past year. It has been found necessary to destroy a few squirrels and a 

 number of vagabond cats. Several milk snakes were found at the nests of 

 birds containing eggs or young and were also destroyed. There have beeri 

 a few woodchucks about the garden lots. Cottontail rabbits are plentiful in 

 the woods and swamps. Jumping mice, field mice and moles seem especially 

 abundant throughout the ground. Coons have been in evidence though not 

 plentiful, and a deer visited the dooryard on one occasion this winter. 



"The Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary is not only a medium for the distribu- 

 tion of information and interchange of ideas upon the conservation of wild 

 life, but it is a fertile field for original research along these lines as well. Its 

 usefulness cannot well be measured in dollars and cents, nor its success judged 

 by the amount of money which it earns. It should merit support on the 

 ground of its being a public benefit and an institution seeking to promote 

 the welfare of all useful wild life in the interests of all law-abiding citizens." 



BIRD NOTES 



SHARON 



Last Friday five ruffed grouse, in a small group, spent nearly half an 

 hour within twenty-five feet of the house. So far as I could see they did not 

 touch the grain I had put out, but apparently secured a breakfast of leaf 

 buds. I have been more impressed this winter than ever of the great food 

 value which the seeds of the birches offer for goldfinches and redpolls. I 

 have had a large flock of both birds for several weeks. All last week they 

 were constantly in evidence, I tried every means of attracting them by 

 scattering seed broadly over the ice and crusted snow. In the vicinity of the 

 birches a few bold ones ventured to feed, but at the slightest movement the 

 whole flock would fly. I have not seen them since Saturday morning at 7:30, 

 when a flock surely numbering 200 (probably more) appeared. At present 

 my bird table guests are juncos (30 to 50), chickadees (8 to 10), tree 

 sparrows (5), purple finches (15), downy woodpeckers (2), bluejays (9). 

 These are counted at one time, so there may be more. Crows are abundant, 

 a flock of nine starlings has been reduced to one, one flicker comes occasion- 

 ally, and one northern shrike appeared on the piazza recently. 



I have just been called to the telephone by a child who has attended all 

 the children's bird-walks. For the past week, ten pheasants have come to 

 their dooryard, and they are feeding with their hens; one crow and one gray 

 squirrel have joined the pheasant family circle and are becoming very tame. 

 The children will provide all the food necessary to take care of the hungry 

 visitors during this severe weather. 



(Mrs.) Harriet U. Goode. 



