THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 2\ 
he would take off to some unknown roosting place at a distance, because 
we could watch his flight through the yards on the opposite side of the 
street. For more than a week we saw him go late every afternoon but 
each morning he was back about seven-thirty. All day long he sat in 
his snug little nook, which I thickened, bough by bough, almost daily. 
Suddenly one afternoon he changed the course of his flight and went to 
bed in a very thick growth of syringa in a north angle of our own house. 
Aiter that day the whole family went on the job of watching him off 
to bed every night, some of us seeing the take off on the south side of 
the house and others noting the successful landing on the north. ‘This 
daily migration became of immense importance to the household. Christ- 
mas approached; so, naturally, the name of “Viny Tim” was given to the 
little fellow, who deserved it because of his infirmity only. As bit by 
bit the spruce cover thickened he decided to burrow into it for night 
protection, so now all his time is spent on the south side of the house. 
He has become fat and finds flying much more difficult. He never leaves 
the yard, which is protected by a thick untrimmed hedge with a fence 
outside of that, but he seems perfectly contented with little trips to the 
bath and meanderings among the shrubbery. From wind and rain he is 
sheltered by overhanging eaves and spruce boughs, food is always here, and 
one of nature’s first laws, the survival of the fittest, has been overthrown. 
During the spring and autumn migrations hundreds of tired little 
travelers stop with us. Seventy-four species have been recorded in a four 
year period. The White-throated Sparrows tarried five weeks on the way 
north and six weeks when they went south. Several Chewinks always 
come in the spring for about a month, and last autumn one sojourned 
for all the last week of October, the only fall appearance that I have 
noted. A Winter Wren was here through the month of April and, of 
course, the Bohemian Waxwings cleaned up the high bush cranberry 
during March. Unexpected visitants come when conditions are favorable. 
The Woodcock is one of these. When dry weather urges him from his 
natural habitat we find him probing our cool, sprinkled shrubbery. The 
Whip-poor-will was here last year when the trilltums were whitest. Dur- 
ing the summer the yard was sanctuary for the nests of the Thrasher, the 
Catbird, a Red-eyed Vireo, and several Robins. Besides the Catbird, I 
am now feeding four Cardinals, several Jays, two or more Downy Wood- 
peckers, not to mention a horde of Sparrows. Eight or ten Purple Finches 
were here a month ago and an occasional Junco drifts in from the sur- 
rounding prairies. 
This yard is a hundred foot lot, not in any degree measuring up to 
the proportions of an estate. It is nine miles from the heart of a great 
city. ‘Io birds it means water, food, and protection. However small 
and unimportant geographically, I am beginning to hope that in bird 
language and understanding it is known as ‘““Wings’ Rest.” 
Berwyn, III. 
