446 Bird - Lore 



us to the window. The Jay was alternately scolding and pecking vigorously 

 at the doughnut, while a red squirrel, on the under side of the twig, was 

 gnawing the wood just at one side of the cake. Suddenly the twig fell apart, 

 the doughnut slipped off, and was caught in a twinkhng by the squirrel. He 

 ran over the apple tree, leaped upon another tree, and from that to a stone wall, 

 and, still running on the wall disappeared from view over a hill, — all the time 

 pursued by the Jay shrieking, "Thief! Thief!" and making vicious thrusts at 

 the victorious maurauder. — ^Lella J. Webster, East Roxbury, Vt. 



[Here is observation and composition "on the spot" one might say. A delightful 

 method of teaching birds is to seize any opportunity for observation, even though it 

 disturb the school routine for a few moments. Such an observation is likely to make the 

 pupils remember the day, the lesson taught by Nature as well as the one given out by 

 the teacher, and the schoolroom with pleasure. — A. H. W.] 



A FEEDING STATION 



I think you may be interested to know some things we observe that the birds 

 do while eating crumbs. The birds that come most frequently are: English 

 and Chipping Sparrows, Robins, Brown Thrashers, Starlings, and Crackles. 

 I think I have read that Brown Thrashers are shy, but they come once in 

 awhile. This morning I noticed the English Sparrows were flying around very 

 excitedly and a Robin was chasing a Blue Jay, and I suppose when the Blue Jay 

 flew away from the Robin the Sparrows thought he was chasing them, which was 

 the reason for the excitement. About a week ago mother called my attention to 

 a female Robin with four fairly young birds around her. Two she was feeding, 

 one she chased away, and the other didn't have any attention paid to it at all. 

 We have had Robins and Sparrows feeding young birds in front of the window. 

 The Robins seem tamer than Sparrows and come very close to the window. We 

 had a Chipping Sparrow's nest about ten feet from the porch in the front. We 

 used to be out on the porch a great deal and the birds were remarkably tame, 

 even allowing us to approach about one and a half yards from the tree while 

 feeding was going on. Last year Starlings were in a nesting-box put up in 

 our yard by a boy who lived in the next house. 



I want to end the letter by telling how much I enjoy Bird-Lore and I do 

 wish it would come oftener. — Noel Sauvage, Glen Ridge, N. J. 



[The home feeding-station is perhaps the most attractive form of bird-study for those 

 who have only spare moments to give to it. An intimacy hard to duplicate elsewhere 

 soon springs up between the observer and his bird-pensioners. 



In the above communication, dates are not given as to the precise time when the 

 birds ceased frequenting the feeding-station, but it was presumably a little later in the 

 season than usual, owing to the cold, backward spring. The actions of parent birds 

 toward their young just out of the nest are less generally understood than those of nest- 

 lings, especially with reference to birds raising more than one brood. In the case described 

 above, lacking the actual identity of the four young birds, one might hazard a guess 

 that the parent paid most attention to those leaving the nest last, although individual 



