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Bird - Lore 



Seven years ago, I started a permanent feeding-station, using only suet 

 for food and a string to release the shutter. From year to year the number has 

 increased and the kinds of foods varied. I find it best to use certain foods 

 regularly in the same station. There is more chance of getting the birds you 

 want if you increase the number of feeding-places. 



One might imagine that after two or three years few new subjects would 

 offer themselves. On the contrary, each year of the seven has brought some 

 new species. Earlier in the work there were more. In these seven years, 

 Scarlet Tanagers came but one year; Towhees, one year; Swamp Sparrows, 

 one year; Cowbirds, two years; Fox Sparrows, one year. Of course, there are 

 many that come regularly each year, and that gives a chance to improve 





A CROW FEEDING ON A DOUGHNUT AT FEEDING-STATON NO. 6 



the pictures that were made previously. Then, there is that long list of 

 migrants that may stop if you can get the right food, bath, or perch. These 

 are the ones that keep you always hoping. 



These feeding-stations, with the telescopes, give you an opportunity to 

 study the birds when they are absolutely undisturbed by your presence. The 

 boxes with the cameras become part of the landscape, and birds are not at 

 all disturbed by them. Even the click of the release becomes, after a time, 

 a familiar sound. 



The four feeding-stations nearest the window have a favorable location 

 by nature. Below them is a wooded ravine that opens out into a pasture lot. 

 Birds moving from the lowlands for shelter would come to the stations. The 

 English Sparrows are the decoys that lead them on. Above these stations 

 there is a spring that is open the year round, and this draws many birds. 



