Potes from Fieln and Stuny 
Some Random Bird Notes 
I was very much interested in the dif- 
ferent papers published in 1910, of BIRD— 
Lore, for, while a farm-dweller, I have 
been a much interested observer of bird 
life about me, and for years have tried 
in every way to attract the birds to my 
lawn and the big maples at the side, and 
in other ways induce them to nest about 
the door, and the sheds, and shrubbery 
adjacent to the house; and I have been 
very successful. 
For years I have had a very promising 
colony of squirrels that are very familiar 
“‘citizens” of the lawn, and big near-by 
trees, and, so far as I know, they have not 
molested the birds; but the red squirrels 
do, and they are shot as fast as they show 
up during the nesting season of the birds. 
English Sparrows are the worst enemy, 
and they are shot on sight. Years ago 
they became very wary, but the occa- 
sional shooting of a stray one keeps the 
lawn practically free of them. 
In the trees, in nooks and corners about 
the buildings, we keep boxes and little 
paint kegs fastened, with all sizes of aper- 
tures for entrances, and usually have ten- 
ants for them all. In protected places, like 
the gable rake of the carriage-house, there 
are Robins’ nests. One nest has now been 
occupied for three years in succession, has 
been the home of six broods of birds, and 
is in good shape for 1911 tenants. The 
birds repair it a little each nesting, and it 
is now quite eight inches in height. 
The Bluebirds come back to the old 
nest-boxes, year after year—I think the 
same birds. A nook in the kitchen porch 
is a favorite place to nest, and, one year, 
two families were located there at the same 
time, their nests being not over five feet 
apart. The Tanagers have nested in the 
maple, not thirty feet from the house, and 
Chippies, Wrens, Catbirds, and the Jike, 
are common inhabitants. I suppose be- 
cause of a fancied protection. Orioles are 
induced to build in the elm near the door, 
possibly because the old farmer, when 
they arrive in the spring, puts there a 
great assortment of white strings, very 
finely torn slips of white rags (red will not 
be accepted), and cotton waste, all of 
which is eagerly taken up in nest-building. 
One Oriole put nearly one hundred feet of 
fine white twine, cut into foot-lengths, into 
her nest this season, and would almost 
take the strings out of my hand, to deftly 
felt into her nest. 
In the winter, I have known about 
twenty varieties of birds to feed upon my 
bounty. If cats attempt to molest, a 
charge of salt fired into their fur will cause 
them ever after to give that place a wide 
avoidance. Suet is the most attractive 
food we can put out for the majority of my 
guests, We take a piece of about a pound 
weight, wind it closely with twine, tying 
frequently, and then suspend it to the 
outermost boughs of a tree, about ten feet 
above the ground, and a like piece in 
another place. This attracts the Wood- 
peckers, the Nuthatches, Jays, Cardinals, 
Titmice, and the like; while about a shallow 
box, with a wide, flat cover, about five 
inches above it, which is placed securely 
on a limb of a tree, and supplied with 
coarse, ground chicken feed, one soon 
finds yet another class of happy boarders, 
eating at all hours, and dodging the 
cashier’s desk as well. In protected places, 
under open sheds, and in sheltered nooks, 
we put big baskets of barn-floor sorts and 
chaff for yet another class of birds, the 
Juncos, Sparrows, and the like, and the 
way they make the chaff fly in search of 
seeds would do credit to hens. So, this 
way, without much labor—and that com- 
pensated for ten times over—this farmer 
keeps a great company of birds about 
his door, and is coming to know them in 
some measure. But that colony of fox 
squirrels! They live in the big maple trees 
near-by, run on, and over the lawn, and 
are fed some hickory nuts and ears of corn, 
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