272 The Wilson Bulletin — No. UO 



BIRDS ABOUT A COUNTRY HOME IN WINTER 



BY ALICE EDGERTON. 



Our home is ideally situated for bird study. There is a 

 vvoodlot of several acres to the east, the trees on that side 

 coming down to the house. In this wood is a small alder 

 swamp surrounded by thickets of ironwood. To the north 

 and west is another wood which joins a neighbor's woodlot. 

 Together they form a wooded area of cons'iderable size. In 

 the rear, and near enough to shade the houss, are three black 

 locusts, an ancient shellbark hickory, and five red and sugar 

 maples. Thus we are literally in the woods. 



When I became interested in bird study I did not nsed to 

 lure them to the yard, they were already there and very 

 much at home. One who could use a saw and hammer fash- 

 ioned for me a lunch counter from a weathered board, which 

 we fastened in a small prune tree twenty-five feet from the 

 back porch. On it we put seeds, orumbs, and later corn 

 which all seemed to like except the English sparrows — they 

 had been too partial to the crumbs. We also tacked suet to 

 one of the locusts trees and our guests were bidden to the 

 feast. The came readily and fearlessly and my fun began. 



My plans were w^ell laid : the suet was , for Woodpeckers, 

 Nuthatches, Titmice and Chickadees ; the corn for Cardinal 

 G-rosbeaks, Juncos, Tree Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and Blue 

 Jays. But how they went awry, those plans ! Blue Jays 

 varied their corn diet with suet. Tufted Titmice, while clear- 

 ly preferring the suet, came freely to the corn if other birds 

 were at the suet, and I could not discover ithat the Nuthatches 

 preferred one above the other. This is where the plans were 

 wrong. The Nuthatch is a seed eater also though it gets 

 more credit for the destruction of the grubs it finds under 

 the bark. As for the Juncos and Tree Sparrows, they came 

 not at all, but chose the w^eed seeds in the garden. They eat 

 orumbs and grain if I throw them on the ground. 



The numerous Downy Woodpeckers come to the suet by 



