48 Gbe Warbler 



Birds at Oak Lawn, Pineville, Mo. 



JANUARY, 1905, was one of the coldest months that I have ever seen in 

 the Ozark Mountains, but it came near taming the wild birds of the 

 grove. There was a little shyness toward human beings, for uncaged birds 

 cannot quite throw off their first nature ; but long before the severe weather 

 was over anything like fear had been banished. They seemed instinctively 

 to know that the man and woman who threw food twice a day to them, were 

 friends of the birds. Cardinal Grosbeaks or Redbirds would hop over the 

 porch like chickens, knowing perfectly well that we were looking out of the 

 window at them. Now and then a particularly saucy fellow would cock his 

 head at us as though to say, " Were you speaking to me ? I thought you 

 said something." 



We fed them on crumbs, on cracked corn and on chopped feed. The 

 last was the special delight of all the birds, as it contained both fine and 

 coarse grains to suit all tastes. Perhaps there would not be a bird in sight 

 when a double handful would be thrown out. In less than five minutes 

 twenty to forty birds would be busily pecking away at the bits of grain. 

 The man of the house counted in one circle twelve Redbirds, a Woodpecker, 

 and Chick-a-dees and English Sparrows more than could be numbered, so 

 many were there of them, and so fast they rushed about to get their share. 



A dandified Grosbeak, proud perhaps, of his cardinal crest and flashing 

 scarlet waistcoat with its black collar, took his stand by a thick spread of 

 the chopped feed they all liked so well. He swelled up his breast at his 

 scarlet-clad brothers, who calmly turned away and hunted food elsewhere. 

 Next he raised himself threateningly against the ladies of the Redbird fam- 

 ily, and they likewise beat a quick retreat. By this time the dandy had 

 worked himself up to fighting trim, and when one of those quarrelsome 

 braggards, a cock English Sparrow came up, he flew at that astonished bird, 

 his crest sticking straight up, his feathers ruffled for war, and the mandibles 

 of his bill snapping viciously together as though he were to tear the Spar- 

 row in pieces. The Sparrow flew away. The dandy bird smoothed his 

 feathers and looked up at the woman watching him in a way that seemed to 

 say, " Wasn't that cute? " 



There are plenty of trees and shrubbery at Oak Lawn, but alas ! there 

 are plenty of cats also. They are petted cats, and well fed, but neither full 

 stomachs nor moral suasion can make them let the birds alone. Still, the 

 birds hold their own tolerably well. Last season we counted over forty birds 

 nests in the grove, and probably a few escaped our observation. There were 

 seventeen species nesting there at one time. 



Lora S. La Mance. 



