304 



Bird - Lore 



and adding millet, canary, hemp and sunflower seed, the cooling suet hardening 

 and causing the seeds to cling to the 'stone.' As the Juncos started to come 

 here afte^ the seed ^spilled from the 'hopper' onto a table underneath, seeds 

 were occasionally scattered for them. 



March 5, 1916, with three feet of snow on the ground, a brisk northwest 

 wind and a heavy snow in the early morning, clearing at 8 a. m. and fair with 

 wind the rest of the day, temperature 20° to 23°, barometer 29.68 to 29.96, 

 was the day taken to record all visits made. 



The first bird seen was a Pheasant passing into the evergreens on the way 

 to a 'Pheasant feeding-station,' to be quickly followed by the Chickadees at 



the 'food-hopper' at 6.37 a. m., and 

 the other birds in quick succession. 



A record was obtained of 25 Chick- 

 adees, 15 Slate-colored Juncos, a pair 

 of Downy Woodpeckers, one Hairy 

 Woodpecker, one Brown Creeper, a 

 pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches and 

 15 House Sparrows, which made a 

 grand total of 2,768 individual visits 

 to the various feeding-places during 

 the day, as shown by the accom- 

 panying table. 



A look at the table will show that 

 birds are no 'fair-weather' visitors to 

 the station, but were there during the 

 storm and early morning, while in 

 the afternoon, when the sun shone, 

 the food-station was almost deserted, 

 the birds preferring to rest or look for 

 plant-lice and other food on the trees 

 and shrubs nearby, thereby well repaying in destruction of insect enemies 

 for the food supplied to them. 



Observing a Slate-colored Junco eating suet is a new experience for us; 

 however, only one bird did so and but sparingly. 



Crows, Gulls and Redpolls were ,seen to fly over during the day. Our 

 other stations are visited by Tree Sparrows, Pheasants and a pair of Ruffed 

 Grouse, while the Redpolls feed in the birches, and the Cedar Waxwings 

 in the various berry-bearing shrubs and trees. 



As House Sparrows breed freely in the city nearby, in spite of several 

 hundred trapped and otherwise destroyed, a few keep coming to the food- 

 stations, and, if let alone, would chase all other birds away. 



STONE ' 



JUNCO AT SUET; FOOD 

 ON TREE 

 Photographed by R. E. Horsey 



