784 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 21, 1912 
Wawasee, off Buttermilk Point. Harry felt a 
tug at his line and in a moment he landed a 
little brown jug. He went ashore and broke the 
jug over a log and found in it a large catfish. 
If you don’t believe it, he will show you the log 
whereon he broke the jug. 
Let us get back to snakes. Uncle Joe Rose- 
man, of Vincennes, went up to Otter Pond with 
a borrowed rod to fish. He caught one, and 
while he was busily engaged in landing the fish, 
he failed to notice a large water moccasin swim¬ 
ming directly toward the boat. When he did 
discover the snake, he dropped his borrowed rod 
overboard and seized a paddle. The snake thrust 
its head over the side of the boat and struck at 
Uncle Joe several times, but the fisherman was 
protected by his rubber. He finally hit the snake 
a resounding thwack with the paddle and the 
reptile started for shore. Uncle Joe says the 
snake was six feet long. This also disproves 
the claim made by the nature fakirs to the effect 
that the water moccasin will not attack persons, 
and we might just as well begin now as any 
time to revise our ideas about Indiana snakes 
at least. 
Just to round out the story and at the same 
time pulverize the nature books, this little tale 
of a poll parrot, twenty-five years of age, is 
offered in evidence. Poll belongs to C. C. Rada- 
baugh, of Muncie, and is kept isolated in a cage. 
A few days ago the bird laid an egg in the cage. 
Since it has been the accepted theory that par¬ 
rots do not lay eggs in captivity, and that there 
is an age limit, the presence of this particular 
egg in the Muncie cage can only be accounted 
for on the theory that Poll, being a very intelli¬ 
gent bird, decided to smash a record. 
These stories are told merely for the pur¬ 
pose of getting the truth before the people and 
demonstrating that even in a “dry” State things 
are likely to happen. 
Forest and Stream endeavors to speak 
fearlessly without partisanship on all questions 
affecting the sportsman’s welfare. 
JAMES HENRY RICE, JR., CHIEF GAME WARDEN OF 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Practical Points About Attracting Birds 
The Birds’ Christmas Tree. 
BY E. H. FORBUSH, STATE ORNITHOLOGIST OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
Many people who try to attract birds about 
their homes fail in their efforts, not because 
their methods are wrong, but because they lack 
that practical knowledge of small details that 
often makes the difference between success and 
failure in this as well as in many of the larger 
undertakings of life. It is the object of these 
articles in a measure to supply these details. 
It should be understood at the outset that 
such foods as we may be able to offer birds 
will be used by them mainly as a makeshift at 
times when their natural food supply is short, 
and for this reason when we begin feeding, the 
supply must be constant during the winter 
months or we shall fail to accomplish our ob¬ 
ject. The birds may desert our artificial feed¬ 
ing places during fine weather, but if the supply 
is kept up and in the right way, they will surely 
find it in inclement weather when they most 
need it. 
The objection so often urged that in feed¬ 
ing the birds we shall pauperize them should 
have no weight, as insect-eating birds always 
prefer their natural food to anything that we 
may be able to supply them; but by feeding 
birds in winter we may save their lives at times 
when snow and ice have covered their natural 
food supply. 
No one living in the country districts is so 
poor that he cannot feed the birds, for if noth¬ 
ing else offers, chaff, hayseed, meat trimmings 
and scraps will answer every purpose. If the 
trimmings are all utilized in the home, it is a 
poor butcher who will not give the children a few 
scraps or bones now and then to feed the birds. 
There is food enough wasted in this country 
every year to save from starvation ten times as 
many birds as winter with us. 
It is one of the joys of winter in the coun¬ 
try to watch the birds about the farm house, 
but unless they are attracted there by feeding 
in the right way, they will not come. Feeding 
should begin in October or November, so that 
migratory birds may make the place their winter 
home. Hayseed and chaff may be scattered about 
the yard on the sheltered sunny side of the 
buildings or under an open shed facing to the 
south. 
Scratching sheds for poultry make excellent 
feeding places for the birds, for they will always 
find there some weed seeds or fine particles of 
grain that the hens have missed. Bits of suet, 
bones broken to expose the marrow, or fat pork 
may be used to attract woodpeckers, nuthatches 
and chickadees. These may be tied to the 
branches of the orchard or shade trees about the 
house, and if the fat or suet is likely to be 
carried off by cats, dogs, crows, squirrels or jays, 
it may be wound about with twine or covered 
with “cellar wire” netting so that the birds can 
peck it out piecemeal and nothing can carry it 
away bodily. The birds finding these tidbits in 
their excursions about the neighborhood will 
begin to nip at them occasionally, meanwhile 
feeding mainly on hibernating insect pests. 
But we shall hardly accomplish all we set 
out to do unless we can find some way to attract 
the birds to our very windows where we can 
watch their cunning ways. To do this we must 
gradually draw in our feeding stations until 
these feathered neighbors gather around the 
house. There by right methods we may soon 
teach them to come wherever we want them. 
A feeding shelf, about 2 by 4 feet, may be put 
upon a post in the yard out of the reach of 
cats, a little evergreen tree may be erected upon 
it, hayseed may be scattered upon the shelf and 
suet, doughnuts, nuts, etc., may be tied upon 
the tree until all the birds have learned to come 
to it, when the other feeding places may be 
gradually discontinued and this one made per¬ 
manent. It is even better to have the shelf put 
up at a window sill on the sunny side of the 
house where it may- be reached by merely open¬ 
ing the window. Then it is easy to put out food, 
brush away the snow and keep the food always 
ready for the- birds. If, as is sometimes the 
case, the birds do not quickly find the tree, or 
fear to come so close to the house, a feeding 
place may be established on top of a large box 
near a tree on which the birds have become 
accustomed to feed, and when the birds have 
found the new supply, it may be moved nearer 
the window day by day and finally replaced by 
the window shelf. Under kind and careful treat¬ 
ment the birds will soon become so tame that 
one may sit by the window and watch them as 
they feed, and on cold snowy winter mornings 
quite a little flock will make themselves at home 
at the window ’shelf and tree. 
Unless the food table can be kept well tended 
it is better to have a little permanent structure 
under a roof where snow and ice cannot accu¬ 
mulate, and where no food will be wasted. Such 
little food houses are used, both by individuals 
and States in Germany for feeding the birds. 
These German States have found that it is money 
well invested to provide food houses in the 
parks and the State forests. 
The New Little Chief Hare from Colorado. 
In the Bulletin of the American Museum of 
Natural History, Volume XXXI., Dr. J. A. Allen 
describes a new little chief hare from Pagado 
Peak, Colorado, which differs—in coloration only 
—from the better known little chief hare Ocho- 
tona saxatilis. Dr. Allen calls the new form 0 . 
figginsi. 
Mr. Figgins, the collector, states that this 
rock rabbit form has quite a different note from 
those found above the main divide. 
Other magazines may come, other maga¬ 
zines may go, but Forest and Stream must 
go, if not forever, at least so long as past and 
present superiority continues. 
