42 Bird - Lore 



because there was so much difference in their size. They became very tame 

 and I could roll my hoop under the tree and they would not fly away. We 

 kept a pan of crumbs out in the yard for the Sparrows and J uncos. Many 

 English and Tree Sparrows came, and nearly all winter we had one little 

 Song Sparrow for a daily visitor. He would fly at the English Sparrows and 

 drive them all away if they ate too near him. We heard him sing in Janu- 

 ary. We had Kinglets in the fall, but they did not stay here in the winter. 

 On sunny days we saw little birds (sometimes five at once) flying round the 

 windows and roofs and porches. We saw they were after flies, so we caught 

 a great many flies in our attic and put them in a box on the window-sill 

 outside. The birds were very tame, and came and ate while we stood at the 

 window. We found by 'Bird-Life' that they were Myrtle Warblers. 

 There were flocks of Bluebirds around all winter, and some of them came 

 and ate flies with the Warblers. 



In May the winter birds stopped coming and the Robins and Cat -birds 

 began to eat the suet. It was much easier than digging worms. It was 

 very funny to see the birds. The Robin who had a nest in one of our trees 

 would bring her little ones under the tree where the suet was and fly up and 

 bring pieces down to them. While she was on the ground feeding them, 

 the Cat-bird would go to the suet. As soon as the Robin saw the Cat-bird 

 on the suet she would go and drive him off, when he would fly down under 

 •the tree to pick up the pieces which dropped. They would keep this up 

 for some time. Papa nailed a piece of suet on the table in the yard where 

 my sister and I mix mud-pies, and the Cat-birds would come there and eat 

 and carry some away while we were there playing. The Red -winged Black- 

 birds came to the back part of our garden, where we kept a pile of food for 

 the birds, and carried off great pieces for their young ones. They made 

 many trips a day for some time. This winter the Downy and the Nuthatch 

 came the first day of December, though the Chickadees were here weeks 

 before that. We read in ' Bird-Life ' that bayberries were the Warbler's 

 favorite food, so mamma and I picked some and put them out in a dish on 

 the window-sill for him. We put out some flies, too, and he ate those and 

 did not seem to care for the bayberries. We saw him eat three berries, 

 and he could hardly swallow them ; they seemed so large for his little bill 

 and throat. We have had thirteen different kinds of birds in the yard this 

 winter, and enjoy watching them very much. 



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