Cambridge, Mass.
1899.
January.
(No. 6).
Jays came into the elm on a few occasions but although they
looked at the suet longingly they did not venture to touch it.
  The canny English Sparrows, bountifully supplied with
bread crumbs from the kitchen in addition to such grain as
they could pilfer from the Pigeons (they not only entered a wire-
enclosed yard for this purpose but a few of the bolder ones
even ventured into the pigeon loft over my study) regarded the
suet at first with a mixture of indifference and suspicion but
when the native birds began to partake of it freely they gath-
ered close about and watched them with grave attention. At
length - on January 22nd - having satisfied themselves by re-
peated observations that the suet was neither poisoned not the
bait of some hidden snare they attacked a pierce in the elm
coming to it singly or in small parties the members of which,
clustering over it like bees, feasted greedily. Although they
often quarrelled [sic] with one another I could not discover that
they ever molested or even threated the native birds. Nev-
ertherless the Creepers and Woodpeckers either disliked [delete]them[/delete]
or distrusted them for neither species would approach the suet
when a Sparrow was on it nor would either continue eating when
one came very near.
  The plucky little Chickadees, however, showed no fear
whatever of the Sparrows but met them on all occasions with