60 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



them and only shifting their position when I walked directly at them, and 

 then simply enough to clear a way through the flock. They seemed to have 

 no fear whatever, finally allowing me to stroke their backs, raise their wings, 

 and tap their beaks with a short stick. One can imagine where their homes 

 must be — far up among the pines of Canada — where there are no plume 

 hunters or egg snatchers. To them I was simply a larger animal, and not a 

 carniverous one at that. Let us hope that they all return safely next spring 

 and do not adorn some ladies (?) hat. 



January 3: The birds come very often to their "table" these cold days, 

 especially the Blue Jays, Nuthatches, and Chickadees. Although all of them 

 are quite familiar, it is the Chickadees who are my best friends. It seems 

 as though they could appreciate every advance and were willing to meet 

 more than half way. Wishing to test the extent of their confidences I held 

 out a piece of meat in my hand. At once one was there to get it. This I 

 continued for a short time and by the help of bits of meat I soon had them 

 lighting on my shoulders and head, and finally clinging to my lips to obtain 

 a choice morsel held there. Their friendliness is the hardest of all to ex- 

 plain. They are not like the Northern Shrike, neither are they ignorant like 

 the Pine Grosbeak; one almost thinks that they were made too small to hold 

 suspicion, and after all their confidence is their best protection, for no one 

 who knows them would think of shooting them. 



Prairie du Sac. 



HOMEWARD BOUND 



By Edgar Boyer. 



Last spring I resided in a little town that chanced to be directly in the 

 course of the wild geese. Flock after flock passed over us, all going north- 

 westward. And it was remarkable how each flock passed in almost the exact 

 path of the preceding one. Once in a while a flock varied a few yards to the 

 right or left of the common course. They seemed to follow their aerial road- 

 wav with just as much regularity and precision as we follow our own roads 

 or streets. At intervals all during the day for three days flocks of from ten 

 to fifty passed over, and throughout the night the noisy cries of passing 

 birds awakened us. They were of a uniform color, except an occasional one, 

 which, from our point of view, was apparently black, or heavily splashed 

 with black on the under parts and wings. They were very noisy, and for a 

 while after they had all gone, the quiet that prevailed was very noticeable. 

 Strao-glers continued to pass for several days, and after they were all gone I 

 frequently saw and heard a lone goose as he wandered aimlessly about over 



