AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 303 



always the same, and found that he always made a most polite bow 

 when he whistled. 



The jays were not the only visitors to my barrel, for a number of 

 chickadees found it too. After these dear little fellows came I tied 

 pieces of suet to some low bushes near by so as to even things up 

 better. These pieces of meat disappeared so fast, that I mistrusted 

 robbers were about, and watched from my window for the thief. 



It proved to be a red squirrel, who very easily cut the twine with his 

 sharp teeth and carried the meat away, sometimes to an old woodshed, 

 and again to a tall pine tree. 



One day he attempted to climb a steep bank covered with snow, and 

 dropped his prize, which rolled to the bottom and was buried in the 

 snow. Perhaps Mr. Squirrel was as hungry as the birds but 1 thought 

 him too piggish and was quite glad to see the meat slip away from him. 



After this I used wire in place of the twine so Mr. Squirrel found it 

 difficult to get large pieces. The chickadees became so tame that they 

 would stay quite close to my hand while I tied the meat to the tree. 

 One morning I saw one of these jaunty little birds on my back walk. 

 He looked up so bright in spite of the cold, and with his head cocked 

 on one side said in a very emphatic way, chick-a-dee-dee, as if he were 

 bidding me good morning. I felt happier all day for his morning 

 greeting. 



Very close to one of my kitchen windows is a large white oak; to the 

 trunk of this tree I nailed pieces of fat meat and every day just at noon 

 a chickadee came for his dinner. 



I threw crumbs on the ground under the tree and looking out one 

 day I saw a large gray squirrel, sitting as squirrels do, eating johnny- 

 cake. About two feet away a beautiful downy woodpecker in his black 

 and white coat and red cap was eating the same kind of food. I crossed 

 the room and saw from the other window a hairy woodpecker on a tree 

 near by. The brown creepers frequented the trees in my yard but I 

 never saw one eat any of the food I put out. 



The white-breasted nuthatches are great favorites of mine, and I 

 never fail to stop mv work and watch them when the opportunity 

 offers. 



Having read that these birds always feed with the head down, I was 

 interested to see what would happen when one started up the oak with 

 a crumb of bread in his bill. 



Sure enough he had to stand on his head before he could take even a 

 bite, and then he did another queer thing. Instead of eating the bread 

 all up he hid it in one of the crevices of the rough bark, poking it way 

 in out of sight with his sharp bill, then he flew away. I watched to 

 see if he would come back for the crumb. In a little while back he 

 flew, and going directly to the hiding place, pulled out the crumb, and 

 flew to another tree. I was unable to see from my window^s whether 

 he hid it again or not. Mabel W. Eaton. 



