The Birds and Poets 245 



where he is safe and secure from the winter blasts. 

 Other birds in winter resort to old nests for warmth 

 and protection from the rigors of the weather. 

 Goldfinches sometimes roost in old orioles' nests. 

 Mr. Frank M. Woodruff, Curator of the Academy 

 of Sciences, in Lincoln Park, Chicago, has an old 

 oriole's nest, from which a dead goldfinch is sus- 

 pended. After roosting in the nest he apparently 

 hanged himself by flying out through a noose at 

 the top of the nest. 



Many holes about barns and outbuildings are 

 used by all sorts of birds in winter for roosting 

 purposes, but the birds are early risers, and their 

 sleeping quarters are not often discovered. 



I have even observed sparrows clustering about 

 arc lights in the street at roosting time, evidently 

 for the twofold purpose of securing protection 

 from the winter winds, and warmth from the 

 lights. 



The northern shrike, or butcher-bird, sometimes 

 spends the winter in this latitude. I knew of one 

 that lived through a cold winter at Highland 

 Park, Illinois, and waxed fat upon English spar- 

 rows, slain with deliberate cruelty and eaten with 

 the evident appreciation of an epicure. This 

 comely bird is a cannibal, who is no respecter 

 of persons, and while some people excuse and 

 even praise him for murdering the English spar- 

 rows, he also eats a good many fine song birds, 

 for which all must condemn him. It is said that 

 if the hunting is good and he has no difficulty in 



