AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



. 9 



p^c^v^i;:^ 



Chickadee. 

 THE TAMING OF BIRDS. 

 By Samuel Dowse Robbins. 



My home is so situated that I am afforded an unusual opportunit}^ to study 

 bird life from my window. As almost everyone knows, it has been very hard 

 the past winter for the birds to find enough food to keep them alive. iVbout 

 fifteen feet from my study window is a large tree upon which a plentiful 

 supply of food has been kept. Here the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, 

 Red and White-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creepers, Blue-jays, and Chick- 

 adees have fed all the winter. The Juncos came to eat the crumbs I scat- 

 tered for them at the foot of the tree, while the gray and red squirrels 

 made themselves a nuisance to the birds by greedilj'- devouring their food. 

 In vain I have tried to keep the squirrels away from the birds ; they were as 

 hungry as the birds, and would eat as much suet in an hour as all the birds 

 would together in a week. Now, that the snow has gone, the squirrels do 

 not touch the bird's food, much to my delight, as well as the birds.' 



After feeding the birds on this tree for over a month, it was suggested to 

 me that I put crumbs on my window-sill for the Chickadees. I gladly made 

 the experiment which proved successful. Chickadees and Red and White- 

 breasted Nuthatches came to the window sill with but little fear to get the 

 crumbs I took pains to keep plentiful there. A window-sill is hy no means 

 an easy place for a bird to get to, and it would have been almost impossible 

 for the birds to get there at all, had it not been for a number of wires which 

 met under the window to ring a bell. The birds soon learned that the wire 

 was the most convenient way to get their food. Within a week, the Chick- 



