The Newtown bee., 1905-01-20

trust you until you become acQ tainted and have shown that you do not wish 10 catch or harm them. Hickory nuts, cracked, are great treatto the birds, and 1 have seen a chickadee carry piece with bit of meat in it to limb, stand on the nut with one fo t to keep
 it from tumbling off and remove the meat as cleverly as squirrel.
 Have you ever wondered where the birds find drink, when the brooks and owampS are frozen over. l saw little chickadee alight on the very tip of long icicle under the porch one morn ing, and the thought came to me that the dripping icicles are drinking foun- tains tor our feathered friends. I have put out water but, strange to say, have never yet caught them bathing or drinking. Some of the young people have heard their elders say that a phebe has been calling around the barn. yard. Doubtless they have not yet discovered that our black capped tit mouse is ventriloquist. In the phebe song of the chickadee the last syllable is one note lower than the first and has falling infection. The last higher than the first and has a rising | infection. The chickadees begin to sing the phebe note in January and | Febuary, and in March they grow more tuneful, leading one to believe that | chicka-dee-dee is only merry call | and that the phebe role is the song of | the breeding season. The bluejay is | another bird with sweet musical | voice, quite unlike the harsh cry by | beautiful notes of the jay are often | given on the wing and are rightly | called bell notes. I have frequently | heard this bird give it's musical whis- | tie, when settling on the topmost l branch of a tall tree, it's body rising | and falling on tip-toe as it were with l the sweet harmony of It's whistled notes. The jay has been a frequent visitor at my bird table and is especial l ly fond of corn and nuts. In the spring and fall the jay was an indus trious worker, hunting after insects and destroying large numbers of bee. ties and grasshoppers during August and September. In October, l have seen the jay take chestnuts on the wing from half opened burr, before
 the frosts had loosened them. Seeds and dried berries in the woods fD1m the birds diet through the winter, and many of these useful birds perish unless they
 find food and warm evergreenS where
 they can get cover0 during the ice storms. Nearly all the corn jay steals is waste grain and it's noisy hab-
 it's have led it to be claSsed as a thief
 without evidence to prove it. The
 fact that the jay steals birds eggs to any great extent has been disproved
 by the investigators at Washington,
 D. c.
 also want to say a good word for
 the crow. There are few birds whose
 regulations have suffered so much and
 whose real worth to the farmer is so
 little known. He hasn't the beauty
 of the jay nor any music in him.
 You have often heard people say "I
 can sing about as we'll as a crow"
 He does pull up sprouting corn and
 occasionally destroys young chickens.
 If hen has her freedom she can easily
 worst such a foe. I will allow that the
 crow sometimes robs birds nests and is
 known to eat frogs, tOadS, salamanders
 and little snakes, all insect eating
 creatures and therefore harmless. Yet
 with all these charges against him l
 can show that the crow is not alto
 gether black. In choice of insect food
 he makes amends to the farmer for all
 his sins. May beetles or June bugs
 constitute his principal food during
 their season and are fed to the young
 in immense quantities. In August
 the crow lives to large extent on graSShOpperS, bugS caterpillarS, cut
 worms, and spiders innumerable are
 also destroyed by our supposed enemy.
 Probably corn is their most important
 vegetable food and the bird renders
 count of this habit. Some crows will
 not touch hard corn. In planting
 time the kernels are softened by the
 earth'S moisture. Experience has
 taught that tarring the seed will keep
 them from touching it. One farmer
 says that he lee dS the crows at plant. ing time and has no further trouble. |. Aside from the economic value o1 s our feathered friends upon which ' have dwelt in this talk: we do we'll to . to protect and feed our winter birds
 This blessed charity will open our eyes 1T to natural history and teach the chil e dren the value of observation. They e will learn to see quickly and accurate s ly the cOlorS and markings of theil 1T feathered friends. Their notes anl l. songs will brighten many lonely day 's for those shut in who can coax th< birds to their window and watch then e while they eat. It will be a grea1 r pleasure when next winter sets in t( e come them to the same hOspita blt Q board. Would that every farme K might plant few evergreens to at a tract the birds, and build bird house! J. about the door, places for them tt T sleep in winter and nest Tn summer. l s shrubs and trees, the fruit of which il O liked by the birds, were planted in ou yards many pairs of little traveller T. would stop with us during the grea y gladden. our hearts with their songs e Wilhelmina c. Knowles, local secre y tary of A Audubon Society.