PeereteN Ol se Aw) UB ON? S'O:C41 ET Y 31 
Belvidere 
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 
were 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 afterndon, 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. . 
