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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 



Address communications for this department to 



Meg Merrythought, Box 772, Waterbury, Ct. 



To the boys and girls who read American Ornithology, — greeting: 

 This magazine opens the new year with a special corner for the young 

 folks. You have enjoyed its pages with the older people, but now we 

 have a room by ourselves, we hope to become better acquainted with 

 each other, and with our little brothers of the air. We hope that this 

 department will help you to know the dress of the birds you meet in 

 your everyday walks, their songs, and their habits, and thus to love 

 more the beautiful things which God has given us to make us happier 

 and better. So bring your questions and birding adventures, and talk 

 them over with, Your friend, Meg Merrythought. 



A JANUARY PICNIC 



Hurrah, boys and girls. Who is ready for a picnic this bracing win- 

 ter m.orning? A picnic in January? I hear you say. I never heard of a 

 picnic with the mercury at zero. Who is to be there? Is it to be held 

 around a blazing fireplace? 



Nay, it is to be held under the great oak just beyond the house; there 

 is a dashing brook, which Jack Frost has failed to chain, rushing down 

 the hill in a field near by, and on its banks are still left some berries 

 and seeds which our guests will enjoy. Of course the food is an im- 

 portant part of every picnic. Our bill of fare includes a large piece 

 of suet tied to a branch of the oak, a head of ripened sunflower seeds, 

 hung from the trunk. A meaty bone swung from another bough, well 

 out of reach of the cat, and some crumbs and seeds scattered about on 

 the ground beneath, while the clear waters of the brook ripple an invi- 

 tation to all who are thirsty. Listen and you shall hear all about the 

 party that gathered here yesterday, indeed there is hardly a day 

 throughout the winter, but some of our little friends feast in the oak 

 tree. 



