XIX 



WINTER PENSIONERS 



OUR northern winter is a lean time, ornitho- 

 logically, though it brings us some choice birds 

 of its own, and is not without many alleviations. 

 When the redpolls come in crowds and the white- 

 winged crossbills in good numbers, both of which 

 things happened last year, the world is not half 

 so bad with us as it might be. Still, winter is 

 winter, a season to be tided over rather than 

 doted upon, and anything which helps to make 

 the time pass agreeably is matter for thankful- 

 ness. So I am asked to write something about 

 the habit we are in at our house of feeding birds 

 in cold weather, and thus keeping them under 

 the windows. Really we have done nothing pecu- 

 liar, nor has our success been beyond that of many 

 of our neighbors ; but such as it is, the work has 

 given us much enjoyment, and the readers of 

 " Bird-Lore " 1 are welcome to the story. 



Our method is to put out pieces of raw suet, 

 mostly the trimmings of beefsteak. These we 



1 To which this article was originally contributed. 



