OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



February 9. I wonder whether the sun is really 

 more brilliant in winter. Or does the snow give a 

 crystalline clearness to the atmosphere? Certainly 

 never before has the downy woodpecker's black and 

 white coat seemed half so striking. He gives us ample 

 opportunity to admire him, slowly swaying on the suet 

 hung under the food-bell at my western window, or 

 slipping down the maple in the out-of-doors dining- 

 room. This German food-bell consists of a glass jar 

 with screw top like our Mason jars, holding about five 

 pounds of canary and rape seed. The food slipping 

 automatically into a tiny dish below is protected from 

 rain and snow by a bell-like cover. Suspended on 

 brackets far enough from the tree so that only birds can 

 reach it, this ingenious contrivance not only furnishes 

 supplies for all seed-eating and suet-eating birds but 

 furnishes us with entertainment at almost any hour of 

 the day. The hairy woodpecker, too, peers from the 

 other side of the tree cautiously reconnoitering; with 

 the exception of the blue jay he is our largest winter 

 visitor, but he is also the most timid one. The juncos 



38 



