The Birds and Poets 205 



It is an excellent plan to have a box or two 

 near the birds' lunch counter, with openings large 

 enough to admit the hairy woodpecker, because 

 in the extremely cold weather the winter birds 

 spend most of the time under cover, if they can 

 find any, and if they find both board and lodging 

 at the same place they appreciate it, and make 

 use of the advantages offered them. 



Chickadees, nuthatches, hairy and downy wood- 

 peckers, tree sparrows, juncos and cardinals are 

 frequently attracted to these feeding stations, and 

 the English sparrow may be counted on as a regu- 

 lar daily visitor. The latter bird, though usually 

 considered a pest, is just as welcome to my feed 

 box as any of the rest, and my own experience 

 is that instead of driving other birds away, his 

 boldness in feeding off the window ledge often 

 attracts other birds to it. I am proud of my little 

 winter colony of fat English sparrows! Although 

 this little emigrant has few friends even among 

 the ornithologists, he is not wholly friendless 

 among the poets. With all his faults, Mary 

 Isabella Forsyth loves him still: 



"From dawn until daylight grows dim, 



Perpetual chatter and scold. 

 No winter migration for him, 



Not even afraid of the cold! 



Yet, from tip of his tail to his beak, 



I like him, the sociable elf. 

 The reason is needless to seek, 



Because I'm a gossip myself." 



