Photography at Feeding-Stations 



141 



of ten holes, ^ inch in diameter, arranged in the form of a triangle. While 

 no bird photographs were taken there, it was used very much by the birds of 

 the vicinity. Another was located in a dead sapling of the same species, but 

 for some unknown reason the birds refused to use it, except in the very cold- 

 est weather. A third was in the cracked limb of another blighted chestnut, 

 about 10 feet from the ground. It held more food than the rest and was always 

 emptied before the others. For a long time it was a mystery as to what manner 

 of creature could dispose of so much food in such a short time. Blue Jays were 

 suspected, but not many were in 

 this neighborhood, and nothing could 

 be proved against them. It was not 

 until the winter had begim to break 

 up that we learned that we had 

 been feeding a flock of about five 

 Crows. I believe a feeding-station 

 for Crows is unique, even if it is 

 unintentional. Many Brown Creep- 

 ers were attracted to suet forced 

 into the crevices in the bark of a 

 living oak. Some photographs of 

 Brown Creepers on it were taken by 

 my companion, but they proved to be 

 a little too perfect examples of pro- 

 tective coloration. The fifth and last 

 station was only a fence-post with an 

 ample crack into which suet was 

 forced. It was to this that by far 

 the most birds were attracted, and 

 where the balance of the studies were 

 taken. 



The hunting-season opened, and on 

 November 11 we saw only a solitary 

 Song Sparrow, and it was not before the i8th that all the suet was gone. We 

 replenished it that day, but still the only birds we saw were two Song Sparrows 

 and two Brown Creepers. Our next trip was on December 2, and the hunting 

 season was to be over on the 15th. Already the great number of 'sportsmen' 

 that infested the woods was beginning to thin out, and the birds were returning 

 to the section. It was this day that I first saw the birds at the food. On the 

 oak tree were two Brown Creepers and a White-breasted Nuthatch. I refilled 

 the stations twice before the 23rd, when I took my trusty old plate camera. I 

 focused on the fence-post, but the birds kept their distance, and I took home 

 no portraits. I used an electric device to operate the shutter from a distance 

 for all of these pictures. 



TUFTED TITMOUSE 



