. Bird lore. Birds; Birds; Ornithology. 314 Bird-Lore seed—the food is hardly put out before a bird is at it. The females and young are generally the first to come to a new feeding-spot, being tamer, more alert, and fully as greedy as the adult males, who can best defend their right to a place on a frequented window. But it was the males who discovered a pan of water, set out on March 30, not five minutes after its appearance. And there was nothing stolid about the eagerness with which they daily, as soon as fresh water was put in, surrounded and drank from it. About March 12 they seemed tamer
. Bird lore. Birds; Birds; Ornithology. 314 Bird-Lore seed—the food is hardly put out before a bird is at it. The females and young are generally the first to come to a new feeding-spot, being tamer, more alert, and fully as greedy as the adult males, who can best defend their right to a place on a frequented window. But it was the males who discovered a pan of water, set out on March 30, not five minutes after its appearance. And there was nothing stolid about the eagerness with which they daily, as soon as fresh water was put in, surrounded and drank from it. About March 12 they seemed tamer than at a later date. Possibly there were too many visitors after the fame of their performance spread. Certainly, an effort to catch and band one or two birds made them more wary, though they appeared in larger numbers than ever. On April 4, a bird, female or immature, was caught in an improvised trap made of a cucumber frame and was banded. He was not badly frightened, for in less than two hours he was feeding on the site of his capture; and his companions paid not the slightest attention to the affair, except to fly up for a few moments. The next morning we caught an adult male and banded him. He flew to the bush nearest the window where he was released and immediately joined the flock, which was then picking at a freshly uncovered flower-bed in the next yard. So little did the band disturb him that he apparently did not even pick at it, as we had seen the other bird do. At that afternoon he was eating seed on the exact spot where he was caught in the morning—the trap had permanently vanished from the scene, as two birds were all we wished to band—and beside him, with two other birds, ate the banded gray bird. If the banded birds come back next fall, or if any of their flock-mates do, we promise a table spread to repletion. No objection to any Grosbeak's bring- ing a large family of children, or friends; all Grosbeaks made welcome. Improve- ments to the premises
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
