The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-16
BIRDS IN COLD WEATHER.

Those of us who had established bird restaurants on our premises, were we'll
 patronized during the cold weather of last week. The deep snow had covered not only the ground but the low grow
 ing weeds, shutting off the food supply
 of many species, while zero weather made all appetites more keen than,
 usual. Most of us served free meals to
 juncos, chickadees and house sparrows,
 and some of us had more distinguished
 guests. Some had tree sparrows and nuthatches, and number were visited
 by downy and few by hairy wood
 peckers. Even the blue jays controlled
 their suspicious long enough to allow
 them to get a share of the suet, and
 they got a large share, too, for they
 broke off very big pieces and flew away
 with them, until some of us were
 afraid that suet would be "off'' before the other birds had dined. My own favorite guest has been a little chicka- dee with one leg-at least he only uses one leg; he keeps the other so well tucked up under his feathers that it is seldom seen. Probably the frail mem Der has been injured in some way, and it's wise little owner is giving 1t every chance to get well. But the bird seems to suffer no inconvenience; he flies we'll stands up and pecks vigorously at the suet tied to a branch or nailed to tray, or takes it in tiny bits, on the wing, as humminghird takes nectar from a flow- er He can also cling to a twig upside down, as neatly as his brethren. He was our first customer, and perhaps it is this fact which leads him to believe that he has certain rights to maintain. At any rate, he seems to consider it his privilege to feed precisely when he chooses, and alone. If he is pecking at a certain lump of suet. no other chicka- dee is allowed on the same branch until he had finished, but if he arrives at the restaurant when another bird happens to be feeding, the first conner is made to retire and wait, until the one legged chickadee has dined, In at tending to the wants of to-day, these birds do not lose sight of to-morrow. After eating a few bits of suet, they nearly always chip off a larger piece, which they fly away with and store in the cracks of some apple trees which
 grow near by.
 The birds are noticeably tanner dur
 ing the cold weather; no doubt as in the case of men, hunger forces them to take greater risks than would be neces-
 sary at other times, in order to obtain food. The crows are particularly dar-
 ing, and will come almost up to the
 back door for corn or bread, and
 even the birds which are foraging for themselves in the fields and woods will
 allow one to approach closer than at
 other times, rather than abandon their
 feeding grounds A flock of fifty gold-
 inches which came upon last week as they were busy among the seed bearing
 tops of some tall weeds sticking out above the snow, allowed me to almost walk about among them, so intent were
 they on the important business at hand.
 A flock of four pine grosbeaks, too, feed-
 ing on berries, permitted me to come
 within six feet, and even then showed
 little fear.
 But the birds which occupied most of
 my attention last week were the ruffed
 grouse These hardy game birds do not seem to mind the severity of the
 weather, their snug, tight-fitting plum age protects them from the cold, and the horney fringes which grow on their toes at this season, enables them to walk with reasonable comfort in the snow when it is not too deep. It is in- terestfng to follow the grouse trails, leading in and out of the under-growth. If the snow is shallow, the footprints remind one of those made by a bantam hen, but if it is deeper the birds sinks | in and its body makes a furrow as it walks along, while only a general idea of the shape and position of the individ-