194 Bird -Lore about the lawn. The birds ate some of the crackers, but none of the bread crumbs. I kept trying to catch them and touched them several times, I did not run after them and make them fly ; I just walked about after them and tried to pick them up. I finally picked up one, a female, as I could see from the coloring. I let her go very soon, as she seemed to be afraid of me. I followed the birds everywhere and soon found out that the males were a great trouble, because they kept trying to entice me away from the females. At last I picked up one of the males and he sat on my finger and ate cracker crumbs out of my hand. The Crossbill sat on my hand and did not seem to mind it until I carried him over to my friend for her to see ; then, he was greatly frightened. I let him go as soon as she had seen him. W Bird-Nesting in Winter HEN the leaves fall how many birds' secrets bare limbs tell ! This is the time for collecting birds' nests before they have been wrecked by winter snows and wind. They may readily be preserved by making use of the simple wire nest-holder de- scribed in Bird-Lore for last December. A record should be kept of the kind of tree or bush in which they were placed and their height from the ground, as an aid in learning their names. When one knows the com- moner nests, such as those of the Robin, Wood Thrush, Vireo and Baltimore Oriole, a census may be made of the number of these birds found about our homes by counting all the nests we can find ; though it must be remem- bered that the first two birds often build a second, and some- times even a third nest. One 3'oung observer wrote Bird- Lore that he saw sixteen Ori- ole's nests on the trees in one BIRD-NESTING IN WINTER City block.
