﻿172 



Bird - Lore 



ate crumbs I scattered on the ground. The 

 birds were not the only ones to enjoy the 

 suet; several gray and red squirrels came 

 daily and carried away so much suet that I 

 had to devise a new method for feeding the 

 birds. I put out bread crumbs upon my 

 window-sill, and the Chickadees and Nut- 

 hatches soon learned to come there for them. 

 At first they were afraid of the open win- 

 dow, but they soon learned to eat without 

 fear, while I stood near with the window 

 open. 



One cold morning I put some crumbs in 

 my hand, and held it out of the window. 



A CHICKADEE PET 



A little Chickadee came along, flew nearer 

 and nearer; then came to a wire close to my 

 hand; looked at the crumbs, then at me. 

 After picking my fingers to make sure they 

 were harmless, he hopped into my hand, ate 

 some crumbs, and flew away to tell his mate 

 what a daring little Chickadee he was. 

 After this he came daily to my hand, and 

 before long other Chickadees and a Red- 

 breasted Nuthatch followed his example. 

 One day I succeeded in photographing my 

 feathered friend, while eating crumbs from 

 my hand. The Nuthatches had a good deal 

 of difficulty in getting to the window-sills. 

 They could not grasp the smooth boards 

 with their claws, neither could they keep 

 their balance on the wire just beyond the 

 sill. I took pity on them and made what I 

 call a moving restaurant for them. I nailed 

 boards together, which I suspended in mid- 



air by means of a wire. With a string and 

 pulley I can move this from my window to 

 the tree. Here I placed crumbs and water. 

 The Nuthatches soon learned to come here 

 very gracefully, and before long they could 

 stand up on their legs as well as any other 

 bird. My Nuthatch is now as much a 

 perching bird as a creeping bird. 



The next year the Brown Creepers, Jun- 

 cos, an English Sparrow and a Downy 

 Woodpecker followed the example of the 

 Nuthatches and Chickadees and came to the 

 restaurant for food. I took several photo- 

 graphs of them. 



The Woodpeckers eat nothing but suet, 

 while the Juncos eat nothing but crumbs 

 and seeds. The birds have a decided pref- 

 erence for doughnut crumbs, although they 

 are very fond of bread crumbs. The Brown 

 Creeper likes crumbs and suet, while the 

 Chickadees and Nuthatches, although they 

 will eat everything I give them, like 

 nuts and squash seeds best. I crack the nuts 

 for them and give them shells and all, while 

 I simply break the squash seeds in two. 



I shall continue my study of feeding and 

 taming the birds this winter, and hope to 

 discover many other new facts about them. 



I advise the readers of Bird-Lore to set 

 a table for the birds this coming winter, 

 and to watch their habits closely. It is sur- 

 prising how the birds will appear in a 

 neighborhood where there were no birdsi 

 when they find food and protection there. 



I begin to feed the birds the last of Octo- 

 ber, and keep it up regularly until the mid- 

 dle of April. The birds will not come to 

 any artificial lunch - counter when they 

 can get their natural food. — Samuel D. 

 Robbins, Belmont, Massachusetts. 



Western House Wren's Nest 



One of the most peculiarly constructed and 

 appearing birds' nests ever coming under my 

 notice was built by a pair of Western 

 House Wrens, — in an outhouse in Cheyenne 

 Canon, Colorado. A shallow box afforded 

 the foundation of the nest, which was con- 

 structed of the smaller twigs of the scrub 

 oak and built into the form of a pyramid. 

 Many of the twigs were forked and skilfully 



