attention. The other words I have given the song are 
merely an arbitrary attempt to suggest the rhythm, but 
there is no getting away from the Squeteague. It is definite 
and he is the only bird that sings it, but he does not always 
sing it or end his song with it. Another form is, “Sweet, 
sweet, sweet, very merry cheer, Squeteague, whoop-la!”—a 
most exultant whoop-la. Then he has two songs in the 
middle of which he interpolates Squeteague, also three oth¬ 
ers in which he does not use Squeteague at all. Seven songs 
to the one Song Sparrow are the most I have heard since 
I began to pay attention to the matter. 
At Squeteague the friendliest birds soon look to the camp 
for a food supply. Almost daily Chickadees and Pine War¬ 
blers fly in under the boathouse roof and garner insects. 
Catbirds, Chipping Sparrows and Song Sparrows hop fear¬ 
lessly about under foot on the floor for breadcrumbs. In 
July the Catbirds had young across the cove in the cat 
briers. At various times during the day one of them made 
frequent visits to the food shelf just by the door to get food 
for the young. His plan seemed to be four or five visits 
during a ten-minute period to the food shelf, then as many 
to a nearby thicket, then others in other directions, coming 
back to the food shelf after an hour or two. Thus he sys¬ 
tematically varied the family diet. At the food shelf he 
would noticeably distend his gullet with breadcrumbs, 
stored there but not swallowed, then take several bites of 
suet, the last two bites showing between his parted man¬ 
dibles as he flew away. 
These experiences tend to confirm my belief that the sum¬ 
mer feeding of birds is an effective method of attracting 
them, and that it does not in any way tend to pauperize 
them or influence them toward undesirable food either for 
old or young. The Catbird seemed to know the importance 
of a varied diet and provided for his nestlings in spite of 
the temptation of the handy food table with its constant 
supply of crumbs and suet. 
46 
