Janu ary 20, 1904 - Wedne sday. 
Today it is quite warm. A white-breasted 
nuthatch v/as singing his song near Hoags and 
chicadees were whistling. There are a few 
juncoes around also. They are rather wild. 
The blue jays are beginning to think of 
mating. I see them chasing the females in 
bunches of four and five and can hear them 
screaming loudly. Mr. Stout says there are 
no jays in the west part of town where he boards. 
In the east part however they are thick. A 
screech owl must use the squirrel box in front 
of Hoags occasionally for the jays seem much 
excited about it. They come and peep and peer 
into it and scream as if there was some inside 
but when I climb up it is empty. Once a few 
days ago I thought I heard a screech owl some 
distance off but was not sure. There are 
several other places that the jays seem excited 
about but I can never detect the owl. One of 
these is the flickers nest in front of Langdons. 
Perhaps they will nest there next spring. 
In the last few days I have seen a few 
evening grosbeaks flying around but they have 
been surprisingly scarce this winter. Msyoe 
it has not been cold enough to bring them down. 
Pine grosbeaks have been common enough. 
I also see a few redpolls occasionally and 
a hairy or a downy woodpecker but birds are 
scarce here in Baraboo now. 
