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variety he calls Cyanocitta c. semplei, Semple’s blue jay, omitting florincola 
entirely. But that will hardly do, as florincola has been established by 
Coues, sixty years ago. So if one is to be dropped, it should be semplei. 
But that is neither here nor there for the watcher at the feeding shelf. The 
blue jays are chased off the shelf by all the others save the demure little 
titmouse and the towhee. The jays sometimes muster up enough courage 
to chase off the titmouse. 
That the redwings appearing at the shelf to the number of ten to twelve 
must be the Florida subspecies is at once evident by the fact that the same 
ones stay here summer and winter and have somewhat different notes from 
the northern ones. Otherwise they seem to me to be of the same size, only 
the females are darker in color. Incidentally, in looking over the varieties 
of redwing given in the A.O.U. checklist, one finds that the breeding range 
of none of the fourteen forms given there includes Illinois. Here is a chance 
for a member of the Audubon Society to invent a name for the redwings of 
Illinois! Just now my redwings are nearly all tailless due to molting. Also, 
there are only males in the group coming to the shelf. After the breeding 
season the females and young evidently stay by themselves, and the males 
form stag parties. They are not easily intimidated, but readily chase off the 
blue jays. 
I am sorry to be compelled to bring in the English sparrow. When we 
came here there was not an English sparrow in the village. But one day 
in spring I saw a pair near a small poultry yard. In due time the two had 
turned into eight, and these eight are irregular visitants at my feeding 
shelf.. But they are rather shy and make no trouble. They act as though 
they know that they are merely intruders. 
The red-bellied woodpecker is rather abundant at times. Just now it is 
much less so. It is the only woodpecker that frequents the feeding shelf, 
and when on it he chases away all comers. The moment a redwing or blue 
jay arrives on the shelf the red-belly opens his beak at him and produces an 
ugly snake-like hiss which makes any bird depart. Otherwise they are noisy 
too. They have a flicker-like cackle, loud and clear, a loud meow-like call, 
and the raucous call of the red-headed woodpecker. They are handsome 
fellows, but the young lack the fine red crown and nape. The red on the 
belly is so insignificant that the name is really a joke. 
The scene before me changes continually. Just now there are twelve 
redwings, one brown thrasher, one blue jay, two cardinals, and one gray 
squirrel on and under the shelf. I expect the quails any moment. 
A pure delight to the observer is the dainty little ground dove. Their 
soft cooing can be heard much of the day—I suspect a pair of nests in one 
of my orange trees. They have a delicate blending of soft grays and 
browns similar to the mourning dove, which acts as a concealing coloration 
when they gingerly walk on the ground. They are about the size of a 
bluebird, but show much auburn red when they fly. They rarely go on the 
shelf, but are content to stay on the ground. They are mild-mannered, yet 
when one gets near another they fly at each other. The other day I noticed 
one standing by itself and rapidly vibrating its wings, as though it were 
rehearsing future mating antics. 
