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Bird - Lore 



three or four others which seem to be following through the woods in the same 

 general direction. Apparently they are tagging a little flock of Nuthatches and 

 Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers that have already passed by and whose 

 notes we can hear in the direction in which the Creepers are moving. They 



are traveling toward a stand of hem- 

 lock, a likely place for other birds, 

 so we follow also. 



Beneath the hemlocks the snow is 

 covered with small cones from the 

 branches above. Squirrels or birds 

 have been having quite a repast, but 

 apparently, all is quiet now. We 

 search the branches in vain and are 

 about to decide that the red squirrels 

 are responsible for the cones when 

 a cheeping sound at the far side of 

 the grove attracts our attention. We 

 hasten to that side just in time to see 

 a flock of a dozen or more dark 

 Sparrow-like birds hastily leaving 

 the higher branches. They swing to- 

 gether into a compact flock, making 

 a clicking sound as they go, and are 

 apparently bound for distant parts, 

 when, suddenly, they swing on the 

 arc of a big circle and are back in to 

 the same tree almost as suddenly as 

 they left. Now we get a good look at 

 them as they crawl along the branches 

 and we discover that they are 

 White-winged Crossbills. Most of 

 them are greenish females or im- 

 mature birds but several are dull red males. We watch them as they snip off 

 the small cones; and then, holding them upside down beneath their feet, insert 

 their curiously crossed bills and with their tongues scoop out the seeds that 

 lie in the axils of the scales. At times they are silent but again they indulge 

 in excited chippering or in plaintive cheeps. They seem not the least bit afraid 

 of us but all of a sudden they are off, like the Redpolls. — A. A. A. 



{To be continued) 



QUESTIONS 



1. Do you feed the winter birds at your window? If not, why not? 



2. What food would you supply for Juncos, Tree Sparrows, Nuthatches, Chickadees. 

 Woodpeckers, Blue Jays? 



A WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL RESTING 



BETWEEN HIS ATTEMPTS TO EAT SUET 



AS HE WOULD THE SEEDS OF CONIFERS 



Photographed by A. A. Allen 



