2 THE AU D:U‘BON —BU LL eee 
insect pests or their eggs out of the trees. He seems wholly beneficial 
and has a remarkably nice disposition. The field sparrows, too, feed at the 
big rock all winter in little flocks, and I have never seen one make a pass 
at another bird. Quite different from the juncos and the white-throated 
sparrows, who quarrel among themselves constantly. 
Chewinks are perfect gentlemen, and very handsome ones with their 
velvety black heads and bibs. They scratch among the leaves with both 
feet, call their cheerful “twee-ee,” and come to the shelves all winter. The 
lovely brown female doesn’t stay here in winter. One of the funniest things 
I have seen was a male chewink’s courting display. He spread his wings 
and tail, dragging them on the ground as a turkey does. That, and the 
antics of mockingbirds in spring, when two of them do a dance, are very 
funny. The mockers prance up to each other, back off, wings dangling, 
and keep up this performance till something drives them away. I have 
seen them do it on a telephone wire. Our mocker stays around as long as 
there are any persimmons left on the tree. He doesn’t care for the feeding- 
shelf fare. One very windy day he sat in the tip of a tall lombardy poplar 
tree, swinging with the gale, using his wings to balance himself. He acted 
as though he were having a game. 
A hairy woodpecker found borers in one of our rustic porch posts. He 
hammered at it, stripping off chuncks of bark till the floor was covered 
with it. We wondered if there would be any post left when he got through. 
On stormy days he was under shelter there. We could always -count on 
him to start work when it rained or snowed. - The suet stick, now filled 
with peanut butter because of the shortage of suet, is a great favorite. 
The chickadees can hardly wait for me to fill it. They buzz around my 
head and come and sit on the porch rail not a foot away, chattering all 
the time. Often there are a cardinal, two chickadees and a tit on the 
perches at one time, all busily eating peanut butter. When nuthatch comes 
most of the other birds leave. He has a wicked long bill, and a disposition 
to match. 
Blue jays are especially bold and daring, but they are also wary. A 
motion of the hand sends them flying. They are such terrific pigs at the 
shelf, gobbling all they can carry away in their beaks, that they are never 
welcome guests. They are the bane of any one trying to see birds in the 
woods, for they scream an alarm that sends everything into hiding. They 
destroy eggs and young of other birds. Our robins have learned that and 
all join to chase any jay that comes near a nest. The only thing in their 
favor is their gay coloring. 
The Carolina wren is unafraid and full of curiosity. It goes into any 
place that has an open door. It is under porches, in coal sheds, into corners 
everywhere, in search of spiders. One of ours got shut in a work shop for 
the night. It couldn’t be coaxed out, so the owner shut the door. In the 
morning it was between the shade and the glass of the window, looking out, 
and its mate, on the outside, was making a great to-do. One built in a sack 
in a tool shed, and was constantly disturbed by the coming and going of 
the owner, but the wren only came out to look him over and went back to 
her nest. The rollicking song is one of the bright spots all winter. 
