Page:Bird-lore Vol 03.djvu/222

 My Bird Restaurant BY EDMUND W. SINNOTT (Aged 15), Bridgewater, Mass. ONE of the best ways to study birds in winter is to attract them around your home. I did this very successfully last winter by tying bits of suet to the trees near our house and by scattering crumbs upon the ground. I put out a few pieces of meat one morning, and the next day this was discovered by a Downy Woodpecker, and soon the news spread all over birddom that a great free lunch had come to town. One of my regular guests is the Chickadee. He is around early, and stays near by all day. He is the merriest bird I ever saw^ and is always singing — rain, snow or fair weather. He seems to be content with the few pieces that he can find on the ground, if a larger bird is at the piece in the tree. He also delights in the little boxful of tidbits that I have placed among the branches of the tree. He very seldom comes alone, but generally has several of his companions with him. Another regular guest is the White -breasted Nuthatch. It is very interesting to watch him eat. He will stand with his head downward, bending his body far back, and delivering two or three hard blows. If he breaks a piece of^, he will put it in a crevice of the bark where it can be properly supported as he eats it. He has a very harsh, nasal call — quank, quank — by which he may be recognized when he arrives. Almost any time when I look from my window, I can see a Downy Woodpecker at some of the meat. There are four of them, two males and two females. I fear that Mr. Woodpecker, in each case, is a hen- pecked husband ; for whenever he is at the meat and Mrs. Woodpecker arrives, he always gets out of the way as fast as he can. Both Mr. and Mrs. are very selfish, and will not let any of the other birds come near while they are eating. They can be told apart quite easily, for Mr. Downy has a bright scarlet patch on the back of his head, while in Mrs. it is lacking. Another guest, who is not (juitc so regular in his coming, is the Hrown Creeper. He is a very daint little bird, and tloes not stop and gorge him- self as the Woodpeckers do, but takes a delicate mouthful of suet and then goes on, hitching up the trunk in little jerks, investigating every nook and cranny of the bark in Ills search for insects' eggs and larv.f . He is never still, even when eating some choice tiilbit he has fouinl. but is always restless.