Bird lore - Project Puffin

in a tall box elder tree near the house,
where they were eating seeds. Soon some
of them flew to the ground and to neigh-
boring trees. Just then a Bohemian Wa.xwing
was seen at the honeysuckle berries
at the garden gate; then another and
another, and still others, until the number
was seven. The male Grosbeaks
were perfect in their dress and delightful
to see, but the Wa.wvings were the height
of perfection in dress, and were the most
beautiful we had ever seen. They hobnobbed
with the Grosbeaks, and were
almost as friendlj' with them as they are
with each other. For a few minutes three
or four of each were on our neighbor's
kitchen roof in a space not more than ten
feet square. They seemed to find some-
thing to eat there, and it is possible they
did find pieces of suet and nuts that were
tucked away in the cracks by Nuthatches,
from our feeding-table. The Grosbeaks
have been back many times since, and
seem to have decided to spend the winter
in our city, but the Waxwings have not
again been seen at our place, although I
have seen them in other parts of the city.
Heretofore we have seen only one or two
of these beautiful Waxwings at a lime, and
then not every winter.
A day or two previous to this, a Tufted
Titmouse had made hasty and short visits
to our nut-stick and suet-baskets. This
food is not more than ten feet from our
living-room window, but he did not seem
shy even when we were at the window.
Some days we would not see him at all,
and we wondered why; for we knew the
Chickadees, Woodpeckers, and Nut-
hatches were there every hour or oftener
during daylight, and the Titmouse must
surely eat as often and as much as a
Chickadee. One day I chanced to put out
some hemp seeds I had kept for two or three
years, in case of severe spring snowstorms
during migration. Since that day our
Tufted Titmouse has been our most
faithful 'star boarder.' His steel-gray
coat, erect, proud crest, pitch-black
blinking eye, and rich brown sides dis-
tinguish him.
I have, nowhere, found any account of a
Notes from Field and Study 319
Titmouse having been observed anywhere
in Minnesota before. We have had 30°-
below-zero weather here this winter, but he
seems as happy on those days as on any
other, although his visits to the hemp-hole
are not so frequent.
Our other steady boarders consist of
five Chickadees, four or six White-breasted
Nuthatches, four Downy and four or five
Hairy Woodpeckers, and one or two Brown
Creepers. This necessitates a number of
plates at the table, as they never eat, two
at a time, at the same plate. My main
table is a partly decayed basswood log,
with three old Woodpecker holes near
one end. The log is five feet long and
about seven or eight inches in diameter.
This I brought home with me on one of
my return trips from the country. It is
suspended horizontally from a limb of a
box elder tree that conveniently projects
at the right angle. On the underside of
the log near either end are two pieces of
galvanized meshed wire, six by eight
inches in size. They are my suet-baskets,
upon which a slice of suet of convenient
size and thickness is placed, and the log
on top of this. My object in placing the
baskets under the log is to keep the House
Sparrows from eating it or annoying
the other birds while they eat. In the
holes in the log I put nuts and hemp seeds
every morning or late at night. The
wires by which the log is suspended are
about five feet long. This gives the wind
a good chance to swing the log back and
forth, much to the delight of the feeders.
The distance from the ground to the log
is about four and one-half feet— quite
safe from cats. Two feet away on the
tree trunk I have another suet-basket and
also a nut-stick, and for a reserve table a
nut-stick at the window. This gives room
for seven boarders to eat at the same time
when all the plates are filled.— G. H.
LuEDTKE, M.D., Fairmont, Minn.
A Golden Eagle in Virginia
On November 8, 1915, a Ciolden Eagle
was captured on our farm near Trout-
ville, Virginia, in the foot-hills of the