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Bird - Lore 



have ever seen or heard of. — J. Nelson 

 GowANLOCK, Winnipeg, Man. 



Evening Grosbeaks Near Port Chester, 

 N. Y. 



There was a flock of eight Evening 

 Grosbeaks about this vicinity the last 

 two weeks in February and the first week 

 in March of this year. They could be 

 seen nearly every morning up in the box- 

 elder trees by the house, eating the seeds. 

 They were very tame, allowing us at 

 times to get within fifteen feet of them, 

 and in this way we have made their 

 identification positive. 



We have seen these birds near here on 

 two other occasions, namely, January 8, 

 9, 191 1, and November 29, 1913. — James 

 C. Maples, Samuel N. Comly, W. 

 Bolton Cook, Richard L. Burdsall, 

 Paul C. Spofford, Port Chester, N. Y. 



Redpoll in the District of Columbia 



In the January-February number of 

 Bird-Lore, the latest date of the Redpoll 

 seen in the District of Columbia is given 

 as February 12, 1899. 



On March 9, 1914, I, together with 

 Raymond W. Moore, of Kensington, Md., 

 saw a Redpoll {Linaria) feeding on the 

 seeds of a clump of alders on Chevy Chase 

 Drive, D. C; and on the following Wed- 

 nesday morning, March 11, we together 

 with Mr. and Mrs. Leo D. Miner, of 

 Washington, saw four Redpolls on the 

 same clump of alders, and observed them 

 for ten minutes or more through our 

 field glasses at a distance of fifteen to 

 twenty feet. It was snowing hard at the 

 time. 



Prof. Wells W. Cooke, reports that this 

 is the third record in sixty years for the 

 Redpoll in D. C. — Sam'l W. Mellott, 

 M.D., Chevy Chase, Md. 



A Summer Visitor 



It was in the summer of 1906, in a small 

 village in northern Pennsylvania, that I 

 first became really acquainted with a 



Chipping Sparrow. I had always noticed 

 how dapper and bright the little fellows 

 looked, but never knew what friendly 

 little birds they were until this one came 

 to us. 



One morning, as we were sitting on the 

 porch of our summer home, a dainty little 

 song broke forth near us. We listened 

 breathlessly for a moment, and again the 

 happy song sounded, and a dear little 

 Chipping Sparrow lit on the railing of the 

 porch and cocked his head on one side, 

 as much as to say, "Well, how do you do, 

 folks?" We happened to have some 

 freshly baked caraway-seedj cakes in our 

 hands, just feasting on their crisp good- 

 ies, and purely to tempt him we scat- 

 tered a few crumbs on the porch floor. 

 Judge of our surprise when the little fel- 

 low, with an excited little 'chip,' hopped 

 down and began greedily to eat them. 

 After satisfying his hunger, he flew upon 

 the railing and sang a polite little "thank 

 you," and then flew away. 



The next day and the next he came for 

 crumbs. By that time we had begun to 

 keep crumbs on the window-sill for him, 

 but the Sparrows found that out, and 

 quarreled and fought over them until we 

 had to stop leaving them there for the 

 little guest. Each day he would come, 

 light on the ridge of the roof of the house 

 next door and call. If we answered, 

 down he would come, eager for crumbs. 

 We talked to him as we would to a child, 

 and when crumbs were not on the porch 

 we would tell him to wait a minute while 

 we went in to get them. Whether he 

 understood or not I do not know, but at 

 least he stayed and hopped to meet us, 

 eating the crumbs from our hands. 



Mornings, my father would go down 

 stairs early, whistle a clear, sharp call, 

 and down the little fellow would come, 

 light on the arm of father's chair, and 

 while father whistled the tiny bird would 

 throw back his head and sing with all 

 his might. 



I used to sit on the floor, crumbs in 

 my lap, and the little fellow would hop 

 up into my lap and eat. He was very, 

 very partial to cooky crumbs, and 



