Some Winter Guests 5 



Neither of the nuthatches has ever con- 

 descended to alight upon me, but a red-breasted 

 nuthatch once allowed me to stroke him with a 

 forefinger as he was feeding on suet, and neigh- 

 bors of ours entertained one which used to come 

 to their hands almost every day for months. I 

 have almost touched a downy woodpecker, but 

 not quite. He was feeding on a food tree at 

 Meriden, and showed no fear when I walked 

 up until my face was within eight inches of him. 

 My enemies say that this marks the limit of 

 courage in any wild bird, and that that wood- 

 pecker should have been awarded a medal for 

 bravery. 



But as a rule the chickadees are the tamest of 

 all; there seems to be no limit to the confidence 

 which these little fellows will have in you if you 

 give them a little encouragement. At my home 

 they know us so well that if they don't see what 

 they want they practically ask us for it. Some- 

 times before we are up in the morning they will 

 sit in a row on the bedroom window-sill and 

 hammer on the glass with their bills. We open 

 the window and in they come. Like as not they 

 will find some broken nuts on the dressing-table; 

 if so, they may eat them there or they may fly 

 out into the garden with them. One morning 

 we invited them to breakfast. We set the 



