Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1912-01-12

platform in some OF these hoods directly over the
glass globe. Upon this many sparrows as can
conveniently crowd together rost throughout the
cold weather nights. A club rapping experiment
on an electric light pole at Chicago avenue cor
ner near the North Side water works lot during
q bowling blizzard one winter night resulted In
the dslodgment OF twelve frightened sparrows.
They futtered about in the storm and hung like
so many fascinated moths When the pounding
ceased they made their way back to their resting
place and doubtless remained undisturbed until
morning. Their fiat was certainly modern in it's
appointments for 1t was heated and lighted by
electricity
Take trip through thistle field in July and
there will be seen scores Of goldfnches feeding
on the seeds Of the prickly plants. These little
creatures have the appearance Of the birds Of the
tropics 1t would that barely breath of
the north wind would send them scurrying south
ward. In TRUTH however, these birds. frail though
they appear stay with us all winter. yet not one
person in fifty outside of the ranks OF the bird
students knows the fact
In late August the goldfnch drops his gold and
black livery and puts on sober sparrowlike
garb. This is the reason why people think that
the little thistle seed lover has left them and
that another bird has taken its place. In the
Chicago Academy of Sciences there is pathetic
evidence of how the goldfinch keeps warm during
the winter nights. The curator has there an
orioles nest from the outside of which hangs the
body of goldfinch caught by the neck and liter
ally hanged by one Of the cords with which the
oriole has fashioned its home. The goldfnch
has sought refuge in the nest from the weather
and on leaving 1t in the morning has thrust his
head through the fatal moose. These birds utilize
the deserted homes of all their brethren who
build deep nests. The goldfnches return night
after night to a nest which an oriole had swung
from the tips of an elm in Western Springs, ILL.,
The chickadee of which something has been
said, builds its nest somewhat after the manner
of the 'woodpecker but IL observation goes for
much, the bird does not use this absolutely safe
and warm retreat for its winter night lodging.
They have been startled time after time just after
sunset on cold nights from the vacated nests of
many species Of birds. the chickadee simply bury
ing itself in the warm Innings in which the sum-
mer before the young Of its friends had been
Graded.
BY mid-September the swallows one and all
had disappeared. 1t may be that if the appear
ance Of one swallow does not make summer,
the absence of the entire tribe may not make an
autumn but it is certain that the birds must feel
something that bids them begone, for they go in
a body and they go in the twinkling Of an eye
The swallows live upon insects and there is no
reason rs far as food is concerned, why they
should not stay at least two weeks longer, for
their homes are III sheltered Inooks The hum
ming birds, despite its decacy, stays longer than
the swallow and complains not.
II one can catch sight of a saucy little wood
pecker going into hole in a tree on his lawn at
this season of the year he may hope to have an
interesting neighbor during the entire winter All
the downy woodpeckers remain In the north the
years through. Some of the red heads stay too.
but most of them go a few score of miles to the
south. All Of these birds that remain pass their
nights in holes in trees, and at the time OF the
first fall month they are busy locating proper
solA weather habitatons II enough interest in