Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/24

 Making Bird Friends

HY LAURENCE Jr WEBSTER Holderness. N. H.

Wim photographs from nature by um :unhnr

AVING become much interested in the feathered residents of our H farm. my wife and I determined to add to their winter rations. and

early in the season established a feeding place for them. We selected a protected location at the edge of a pine wood. where we fastened pieces of suet to numerous trees. and in a large box. placed on its side on the ground, we put straw, hay siftings and several kinds of seed. it was not long before the Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches discovered the food and began to come regularly, Blue Jays and squirrels also found it and we were obliged to tack fine poultry wire over the suet to prevent them from taking whole pieces as fast as we put them up. Later we had Juncos, Tree Sparrows, VVhite—breasted Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers.

After about a month the Chickadees and Redebreasted Nuthatches became so accustomed to us that we could approach within a few feet of them without their exhibiting any fear. It then occurred to us that we might tame them so that they would eat from our hands. As a beginning. we fastened a small box-cover to a limb of one of the trees where suet was kept. and filled it with chopped nuts. In a day or two the inquisitive Chickadees mustered sufficient courage to investigate this. and found the nuts much to their liking. The Nuthatches. however, did not seem to care for them and seldom visited the box, After the Chickadees had become well accustomed to going to the box, we succeeded. by very gradual stages. in getting them to light on it while held in the hand. Finally we discarded the box and held the Chopped nuts in our hands. and they soon came to alight on our ﬁngers as readily as on the box.

During all this time the Red-breasted Nuthatches were very much in evidence. but we did not succeed in getting them interested in the chopped nuts and therefore tried them with whole heechnuts. At ﬁrst we Wedged them into the crevices in the bark near the suet. so that they might become accustomed to finding nuts at that particular place. They found them very promptly. and those they could not eat at the time they would carry off and hide. We then tried holding two or three beechnuts in the hand directly under the place where they had been used to ﬁnding them. and. after patient waiting. we were rewarded by having a Nuthatch come to the spot. He investigated the new conditions thoroughly. then reached down and took a nut. which he immediately ﬂew off with. but after a short time returned for another. This time the hand was held further from the tree. and he was obliged to put one foot on it in order to reach the nut. Then it was held five or six inches off. but he was equal to

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