Bird lore - Project Puffin

302 Bird - Lore
The birds remained until the middle of May, seeming lost and out of place
among the summer birds, which were courting and looking about for home-
sites. As the weather grew warmer, they became quieter, sitting in the trees
and talking softly. The flock became smaller and smaller; some days no birds
came at all, or only a few for a short time, but every storm drove them back
again. April was warm and the leaves and apple blossoms came out. Then
snow fell, and one day we had the odd combination of apple blossoms and
Hummingbirds, Grosbeaks and snow, in the yard.
I have read in several places that the song of the Western Grosbeak is
not known. One day, as I was sitting by an open door, a Grosbeak on a branch
a few feet above me, after whispering soft little phrases for several minutes,
began to sing. It was not a full-throated song, but merely the breath of one,
such as Mr. J. William Lloyd mentioned hearing a Catbird sing. It sang for
some time, then flew away, only to return and begin all over again. That was
the first and the last time I ever heard a Grosbeak sing.
We could always distinguish the quarrelsome female by her size and actions.
Another bird used only one foot, and the feathers were gone from one side of
the breast of another (the work of a cat, probably). Then there was the
gourmand, which ate longer than the others, retiirning sometimes by himseK
to feast on the seed; so we are anxiously waiting to see if our same flock returns
this autumn, to make pleasant the winter for us.
Winter Feeding-Stations at Highland Park,
Rochester, N. Y., 1915-1916
By WM. L. G. EDSON and R. E. HORSEY, Rochester, N. Y.
HIGHLAND PARK, Rochester, N. Y., justly famous for its collection
of shrubs and small trees from the whole world, which furnish an
abundance of berries, dry seeds and shelter, with its large pinetum
giving cover, juniper berries and cone seeds, makes an ideal place in which to
observe the winter birds. At the request of the Superintendent of Parks, C.
C. Laney, food-stations have been maintained, where suet and small seeds
for the native birds, with corn, wheat, etc., for the introduced Pheasants and
the native Ruffed Grouse, are scattered.
To show the results obtained, it was decided to watch for an entire day
the Herbarium Food-Station, situated on the edge of the pinetum among
several whitewood or cucumber trees (Magnolia acuminata) and visited by
most of the birds. This food-station was originally started for the Chickadees,
Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. It was supplied with a 'food-hopper' filled
with sunflower seed, hung well up in a cucumber tree, a chunk of suet tied to
a limb near the main trunk, a piece of suet suspended by three feet of string
from a branch, and a 'food-stone.' A 'food-stone' is made by melting suet