M as s achus ett s Audub on S o ciety 7 



much his own way. They stay about half an hour and eat what the other 

 birds don't care for. They also feed from the window-ledge, sometimes two 

 at a time. On one occasion we saw one jay feed the other, probably some 

 choice morsel, while they perched on the sill together. 



Like the fox and tree sparrow, the jay pushes the food off the feeders 

 to the ground, the sparrows by their habit of scratching and the jay using 

 his bill as a pusher, but the food is not wasted, for the other birds eat it 

 from the ground. 



My friend Mrs. G. K. Poole, who lives down the street a hundred yards 

 or so, has an auto-feeder on her blind. The chickadees discovered hers first, 

 and it was two weeks after before they discovered mine. She also has a 

 song sparrow, which I haven't seen up here, nor has she seen a junco about 

 her place. But she was especially favored with a flock of redpolls three or 

 four times during January, and one beautiful sunshiny morning, January 22, 

 four pairs of evening grosbeaks spent over an hour and a half in her back 

 yard, feeding some on buckthorn and sumach but resting more, showing 

 excellent views from every angle even as close as four feet from her rear 

 window, and with the sparkling snow background it was a wonderful sight. 



There was a crossbill, January 25, in the yard across the street during 

 the below-zero weather, vainly trying to eat some frozen garbage. Had I 

 realized how far gone he was, I would have brought him in and warmed 

 him, for my husband afterward told me he and his boy friends on his 

 rambles in woods in winter sometimes found birds in such a condition, took 

 them to their camp, warmed them in a little box with cotton in it, fed them, 

 when they could eat, a little warm mashed potato being all the food they 

 had suitable, and finally they were able to fly away. The crossbill was 

 found dead in the yard, and it has been the one sad note in our winter's 

 pleasure with our bird friends. I only mention it in case someone has a 

 like experience and would use better judgment than I did that time. 



I hope also some of the readers will try the window-ledge and auto- 

 feeder scheme that they may derive the pleasure we have enjoyed and hope 

 to continue. 



(Mrs. Frederic W.) Virginia de B. Howe. 

 79 Greenwood Ave., 

 Swampscott, Mass. 



P. S. Since writing this article I would add that the redpolls have 

 become steady boarders. They seem to be of different sizes and shades, 

 some quite dark, females, and in the males we have found the rosier the 

 breast the lighter the gray color. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the 

 varieties of redpolls to designate ihem. One of them was overcome during 

 a recent storm and was picked up apparently dead, but he thawed out when 

 we brought him in, and after keeping him all night he was anxious to get 

 away, so we liberated him early in the morning. 



Would also say that our house is situated on a hill not far from the 

 woods, but there are no shrubs on our land or undergrowth, the pines being 

 trimmed quite high up, while Mrs. Poole has a wild garden with many bushes 

 and trees, which would be a natural place. She also has great success with 

 her bird-bath, which is a hollow in a large rock in the lawn. 



Virginia Howe. 



