AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 



377 



A FREE LUNCH FOR BIRDS, 



By B. E. Jaoues. 



CATBIRD started it by flying down on an old 

 carpenter's sawhorse that I fished out of the 

 river. It stood on the edge of a bank which 

 sloped down to a thickly wooded ravine 

 about eight feet from the house. The 

 heavy branches of an oak tree hung over 

 within a foot of the bench so it made a safe 

 and easy approach for the birds as well as a 

 quick retreat in case of alarm. 



A few crumbs, accidentally dropped on the 

 bench, caught the quick eye of the catbird. 

 When they were gone, he looked about, and 

 flicked his tail in a way which plainly said to those who understand 

 bird language, "That was pretty good; I'd like some more, if you 

 please." I laid a handful of cracker crumbs on the bench in anticipa- 

 tion of his return but along came a breeze out for mischief and blew 

 them away. Around a ten by fourteen inch board, I nailed inch strips, 

 which the birds like to stand on, and fastened that securely to one end 

 of the bench. On the other end, I nailed a board just large enough to 

 hold a pan of water. This left three feet of space between victuals 

 and drink for the birds to sit and wait their turn at the frugal board. 



Only the catbirds knew about it at first and they became regular 

 boarders, coming with such frequency that they certainly could not 

 spend much of the daylight in searching for other food. Then a big 

 brown thrasher discovered the free lunch and he happened to come 

 just after I emptied a big dish of cottage cheese on the board. I have 

 seen hungry creatures eat but I never saw anything to compare with 

 the manners of that brown thrasher. He gobbled the cheese so rapid- 

 ly that he had to crane and wriggle his neck to get it down. After he 

 had eaten what appeared to be more than his own weight, he flew 

 away with a huge chunk in his bill. Very soon he returned with his 

 wife and together they made frequent trips to a distant thicket. The 

 catbirds showed equal fondness for the cheese but were better mannered 

 than the thrashers and did not eat so long between visits to their nests. 

 The sparrows found the lunch counter very soon; nothing ever es- 

 capes them, but the big birds kept them in check and they sat with sur- 

 prising meekness and patience on surrounding branches waiting their 

 turn, or they hopped around in the grass picking up the crumbs that 

 the big birds flung over in their greediness. 



