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Bird - Lore 



lavishly on her piazza roof. It took the birds less than a day to discover the 

 feast awaiting them. They spent one entire day feeding there; the next day 

 they came back to me for a short time, and thereafter, while she fed them, 

 divided their mornings between us. At this period the flock increased in size, 

 to match the increased food-supply. 



AN EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES 



Certain birds we soon learned to recognize, and these we named. There 

 was 'Crosspatch,' a lank, crotchety female with a marred bill and 'Ruffles,' 

 female or immature, who holds his head in such a fashion that his feathers 

 stand up in a sort of pompadour. 'Ruffles' and 'Crosspatch' are the tamest of 

 the regular visitors. 'Rufifles' is very quarrelsome but very crafty, never 

 failing to snatch a seed between battles. 'Tete Noir' is a male with barely 

 a suggestion of gold on his head; the 'Crown Prince' has an extra gold band 

 at the back of his head, joining the two lines over his eyes and making him 

 a golden crown; 'Picot' has a deep scallop of gold on his forehead; the 'Daf- 

 fodil' is the yellowest and proudest of all the adult males, and the tamest; 

 'Tiny Tim' is so little that he never gets much chance on the window. 



At first the birds were very quiet, both in the trees and when feeding. 

 Later they became quarrelsome, attacking one another with their beaks and 

 fighting in the air, and sometimes on the snow, where their fluttering made 

 beautiful wing-tracks. This fighting spirit was undoubtedly fostered by hav- 

 ing to feed in cramped quarters. When seed is put in the box, on the ground, 

 and in the windows, or on the ground alone, sprinkled abundantly, the Gros- 

 beak colony is quite serene. On the ground they feed in amity with the Spar- 

 rows, but woe betide the luckless Sparrow that ventures on a window-sill, 

 where space is precious. 



When the birds come — about 6 o'clock each morning, and between feedings 

 — they perch in the tallest tree-tops, fluffed out against the spring winds, and sit 



