ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 31 



Belvid 



ere 



Miss Muriel Lampert writes of winter happenings at Belvi- 

 dere. 



The regular winter residents came as usual to food stations, 

 the Chickadees in particular exhibiting a lively interest in the 

 new stations provided them by new friends. The Chickadees, 

 Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Bluejays and Brown 

 Creepers have been with us all winter. White-breasted Nut- 

 hatches appeared to be plentiful until early in January, but 

 since that time I have not observed one. Red-breasted Nut- 

 hatches I have not seen or had reported to me this winter. 



The White-breasted Nuthatches disappeared a few days 

 after I had a peculiar experience with one, who came to the food 

 shelf and spent an entire day thereon in an apparently dazed 

 condition, allowing me to pick him up at intervals, when dis- 

 turbed flying only a few feet away from the shelf into a su- 

 mach bush and immediately returning to the shelf. Part of the 

 time he slept. I am entirely at a loss to account for his con- 

 dition. The next few days the Nuthatches acted as usual — they 

 had not been particularly tame — and then disappeared. 



The red letter day in my winter was January 12, when a 

 small flock, not numbering more than half a dozen, of Red-poll 

 Linnets came to our yard to feast daintily on the seeds of wild 

 asters and evening primroses, whose stalks were left above the 

 light snow which hardly covered the ground. I had never seen 

 any Red-polls before, and consequently was very much thrilled 

 to have them come to my own dooryard. This small flock made 

 two subsequent visits that I observed. 



January 19, while taking a long walk, I saw my first Pine 

 Grosbeaks, a magnificent pair, but I regret to say they were not 

 in Boone county but just across the line in Winnebago. There 

 w T ere a few Red-polls with them also. They were in a small 

 grove of splendid pine trees just getting ready to settle down 

 for the night, as it was late afternoon, and casting about for 

 material for an evening meal. They paid no attention to the 

 two excited observers, and were very deliberate in their move- 

 ments, keeping close to each other. When one flew to the 

 ground near a patch of snow where we had an excellent view, 

 the other closely followed, and they finally flew together to the 

 top of a large pine, where we left them. 



Evening Grosbeaks were reported, but I was not fortunate 

 enough to see them. 



Song Sparrows, Meadowlarks, Killdeer, Robins and Black- 

 birds have come at their usual times. Bluebirds are reported 

 as being more than usually numerous, and I have seen pairs 

 flying over. Juncos, which I saw on my January 19 walk, have 

 been in my yard for the last few days. 



