34 



Brown Creeper. 

 Several observers report that in winter the creepers will eat 

 suet, Mrs. Mary R. Stanley says that after woodpeckers and 

 nuthatches have reduced suet to mere specks adhering to the 

 membrane the creeper partakes of it greedily. 



Nuthatches. 



Winter and summer feeding of suet and sunflower seeds, 

 squash and pumpkin seed cut or broken in halves, and the 

 provision of nesting boxes, serve to attract both the common 

 species. They use the boxes for sleeping places on winter 

 nights, and as a refuge to which they flee from enemies. Some 

 few may remain and nest in them during the summer. Peanut 

 butter is said to be a very attractive food for nuthatches. 

 Those who wish to experiment might try it. 



Chickadee. 

 What is true of the nuthatches is true of the chickadee, as 

 their habits are similar. The chickadee, like the goldfinch, 

 takes sunflower seeds from heads left on the stalk, and some- 

 times finds insects in these heads after all the seeds are gone. 

 Dr. Anne E. Perkins asserts that chickadees prefer to all else 

 black walnuts and butternuts. Some like to pick over the 

 skins of baked potatoes. 



Hermit Thrush. 

 This exquisite songster is a forest bird, and lives in summer 

 in or near the shade of pines, spruces or hemlocks. In autumn 

 or early winter, and sometimes in early spring, it may be seen 

 about dwellings, where it seeks the berries of the Virginia 

 creeper or woodbine, and those of viburnum, bush honeysuckle 

 and Japanese barberry. It sometimes takes suet or crumbs 

 from the feeding shelf. In inclement weather it often resorts 

 to sumac berries. 



Olive-bached Thrush. 



Mr. Hamilton Gibson says that many birds of this species 

 came to feed on Ampelopsis berries at his porch in October, 

 1919, and to get these berries they came within 6 or S feet of 

 the observers. 



