16 LA EAU DIB ON BL Gee ree 
but courageously attacked and chased by the smallest of birds when 
they are nesting. 
Crows, Grackles, Blue Jays, Flickers and Red-heads ought to be 
segregated and banished to a country of their own. I do not mention 
Shrikes because their manners are not so obviously bad even with the 
most murderous of habits. They are not as frequently seen as the others, 
and are born carnivorous. So is the Blue Jay, for that matter; he con- 
siders a tender young bird a great delicacy when he can find it unat- 
tended, and he takes fiendish delight in tearing nests to pieces and 
putting homes out of business. 
At feeding places in the country, quite contrary to the city, English 
sparrows are taught their place, which is on the ground meekly picking 
up what falls thereon, until the table is free. 
Catbirds, dainty, graceful, nervously alert, are not heavy eaters and 
will permit other birds to eat at the opposite side of the table if they 
behave themselves and do not gobble. They show active enthusiasm 
over bits of fruit early in the season—especially the half of an apple— 
and still more appreciation over fruit later in the season to which they 
help themselves. From eighteen cherry trees one summer, we had a 
few pints of cherries and secured those under protests of Billingsgate 
from the birds. 
My tables are most abundantly set in early May when birds are 
passing through and least food is to be found. For several days the 
ravine will beswarming with White-throats that flitabout companionably 
with their absent-minded humming in return for the unexpected re- 
freshment they find. Then they are gone. 
Blackbirds are not only greedy but lazy. Instead of carrying food to 
the family, mother and father will bring four awkward young ones to 
the table where they all stand ankle deep in the food and stuff them- 
selves. 
Every bird flies at the approach of the Red-head, not so much because 
of his size as his method of approach, which is swift as an arrow coupled 
with a squawk that would startle anything. Then he perches on the 
edge of the table, emphasizing each insulting remark with a curious dip 
of the head, another trait the Blue Jays, Flickers and Red-heads have 
in common. 
The Brown Thrasher is too shy to come to the table unless he is sure he 
is unobserved. The Robin has the whole earth as his feeding place. I 
feel rather sure both he and the Oriole—the two birds that can talk, 
having the widest range of inflections—would act like gentlemen and 
ladies if they did come to the table. Indeed, the Robin is either too 
much of a gentleman for his own good, or a Quaker, as I have seen 
English sparrows follow him on the lawn and snatch grub after grub 
from his bill as soon as dug. Redbreast stands looking rather dazed for 
a moment and then goes for another grub. 
