a wistful expression, he is too wise to even try to capture 

 them. 



In the garden, near by, we have some evergreen branches 

 placed in the ground to form a little grove; here the birds 

 come for shelter and to feed on the suet which is hung there. 

 As I write, a chickadee comes to the shelf; he has helped 

 himself to the suet, taken a shelled peanut in his little bill 

 and is off to a near-by tree to enjoy eating it. The other 

 birds which patronize our restaurant are as follows: white 

 and red-breasted nuthatches, blue jay, junco, tree sparrow, 

 hairy and downy woodpeckers, and the pine siskin. One 

 April day, after a heavy snowstorm, a song sparrow, which 

 had just arrived, joined with the winter birds to find seeds 

 and other food. When they reached the place where our good 

 things were set out for them this dear little bird was so over- 

 whelmed with joy that I am sure he composed a new song 

 for the occasion; it sounded different to me from any other 

 song I had ever heard. He sang over and over again, "Aren't 

 we having a happy time?" 



Early one morning a northern shrike stopped in the ever- 

 green grove, but only for a minute to take a short rest. 



It has been argued that birds become spoiled by artificial 

 feeding and no longer do their work in Nature's household, 

 but Dr. Liebe says: "Birds find but a poor substitute, even 

 in these arrangements which are fitted up with every luxury, 

 for their natural food in woods, field and gardens, which they 

 always prefer. This fact explains what the astonished bird 

 lover often regards as black ingratitude, the sudden deser- 

 tion, that is to say, of the feeding places when the thaw sets 

 in." 



I learn that in every severe winter many birds perish from 

 want of food and not from cold, as so many people believe. 

 Birds require feeding during and after certain changes in the 

 weather, especially during blizzards and intense frost. Care- 

 ful observation shows that our smaller birds digest their food 

 so quickly that a few hours of want suffice to destroy laro-e 

 numbers of them. 



The names of Miss Emily Clark of St. Johnsbury and Mrs. 

 A. B. Morgan of Woodstock were inadvertently omitted in 

 the list of members printed in the 1910 Bulletin. 



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