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Bird - Lore 



while sitting at our own dining table. I 

 also fastened a wooden tray to the sill, in 

 which we put cracked nuts and chopped 

 suet. 



While sitting at breakfast or dinner on a 

 wintry day, we will hear a merry ' chickadee- 

 dee-dee ' or a loud ' pique,' and looking up 

 will see a Chickadee, or a Downy or 

 Hairy Woodpecker. We cannot number a 

 very great variety among our bird guests, 

 but they are all interesting and more than 

 welcome. The most constant visitors are 

 the Chickadees and Woodpeckers; then Blue 

 Jays, Titmice, Juncos and the Nuthatches, 

 with once in a great while a Cardinal. Of 

 these the Chickadees and Downies are the 

 most tame. The Hairy Woodpecker is 

 always suspicious, and keeps a sharp eye on 

 the window and an ear open for every 

 sound. 



The Chickadees often sit on the sill to eat 

 their bit of nut or suet, calling cheeringly 

 between whiles. They are so very dainty 

 and quick in their movements. The Blue 

 Jays are very greedy, and quickly carry 

 off a pile of nuts. We are always de- 

 lighted when a White-breasted Nuthatch 

 visits the window-sill. They have a differ- 

 ent note from their usual nasal ' yank-yank ' 

 while feeding. However they may fly onto 

 the window tray, when they are ready to 

 leave it they start head downward, as 

 though ready for a coast. We strew fine 

 seeds around for the Juncos and such seed- 

 eating birds during snowy or icy weather. 



When the spring migrants return, we find 

 Black-birds and Catbirds patronizing the 

 suet. Almost all of the winter birds are 

 fond of both nuts and suet. No one need 

 ever waste old or rancid nuts. The birds 

 will be glad to get them. 



One June, we had several days of cold 

 rain, a steady downpour, and it was well- 

 nigh impossible for the birds to forage for 

 themselves, not to mention feeding a family. 

 There happened to be a left-over piece of 

 suet on the stick, and one day we saw a 

 Catbird on it, digging at the suet, while just 

 below her clung two young ones, shaking 

 their wings in their helpless, imploring 

 way. The children were about as big as 

 the mother, but she thrust the food down 



their throats patiently. After a while, 

 however, she grew tired of it and flew away, 

 when the young quickly discovered that 

 they could feed themselves, if they tried. 



Some people have suggested that such 

 birds as the Woodpeckers will not look 

 after the trees for us if they can obtain their 

 food without labor. But our Woodpeckers 

 are So superior to these would-be moralists 

 that they go all over the trees in the neigh- 

 borhood of the winter table, searching in 

 every crevice of the bark. They scorn to 

 live without labor and only accept our bounty 

 in the way of dessert, or when food is scarce. 

 But, after all, it is not bounty, as we are 

 always in their debt. — Anne Wakely 

 Jackson, Jacksonville, Illinois. 



Froni Curran, Illinois 



Last fall, I hung a bird-food shelf at our 

 south study window and early each morning 

 put cracked nuts, suet and bird-seed on it. 

 Several Tufted Titimice visited it the first 

 morning, and, in a day or two, Juncos and 

 Chickadees came in flocks. White-breasted 

 Nuthatches, Downy, and Hairy Wood- 

 peckers, a White-crowned Sparrow and a 

 Red-bellied Woodpecker were constant 

 visitors all winter, often coming several 

 times a day. A Mockingbird came until 

 the middle of December, making, in all, 

 nine kinds of birds. 



The Tufted Tits were the tamest and 

 would eat nuts from my hand. They, and 

 the Chickadees, ate shelled nuts and suet 

 from the shelf, or, flying away with a 

 cracked nut, lighting on a nearby limb, 

 would hold it in their claws, picking out 

 the kernels. Sometimes the walnuts were so 

 heavy they would drop them several times 

 before reaching a perch, and would have to 

 fly down, get them, and start over. 



The Nuthatches sometimes ate off the 

 shelf, but more often carried pieces to the 

 tree and buried them under the bark, then 

 ate them out. 



The Woodpeckers, besides eating what 

 was provided for them, pecked the shelf 

 hard with their bills, perhaps looking for 

 grubs. These birds all enjoyed the fresh 

 fat pork I had nailed to a nearby tree. 



