WINTER BIRDS IN TOWN. 



By Leander S. Keyser. 



(The following observations were 

 made during the winter of 1903-4.) 



Early in December I set up 

 a free lunch counter for the 

 birds. It was spread on the 

 porch roof just outside of 

 my study window, and could 

 not be called an ideal place 

 for its purpose, such as I 

 had when I lived in Kansas; 

 for there were no trees close 

 enough to that side of the 

 house to afford a readily accessible refuge for frightened 

 birds. Should an enemy pounce upon them, they would have to fly through 

 an open space of four or five rods to reach a tree. For this reason the 

 Chickadees, which often flitted about in the trees of the little park, 

 either did not find the table, or else were too timid to risk so ex- 

 posed a spot. 



The only birds that helped themselves tcf the feast were the Blue 

 Jays and English Sparrows. The fiist day no birds came at all. 

 Though the sparrows were chirping about in the trees and watching me 

 slyly as I spread the table, they were suspicious of my designs. What 

 kind of a trap was that man setting for them? Or did he intend to 

 poison them by this offer of dainties? The English Sparrows, much as 

 they are despised and condemned, are far from being loggerheads, 

 and really afford a rich field for the intimate study of avian nature. 

 You carelessly throw the scraps of your dinner or luncheon out into the 

 back yard, and^they will at once descend upon it and help themselves 

 without suspicion; but if you spread a banquet for them with some 

 show of care, they will remain away quite a while, hold many a consul- 

 tation, venture cautiously and by degrees, examine the place carefully, 

 and only when they are fully satisfied that no harm lurks about the 

 menuViU they partake of it freely. However, in time my sparrows 

 became bold enough, and had to be driven away again and again to 

 prevent their getting all the food. 



On the second day a pair of Blue Jays found the banquet, the only 

 Jays that found it up to the present writing. At least, everything indi- 

 cates that my blue-coated visitors are always the same pair, for there 

 are never more than two, and they have an air of familiarity. Much 



