46 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



ties, as has also been her work among 

 the insects. Her beautiful book "Moths 

 of the Limberlost" depicts in colors 

 many of our native species, and is a 

 recognized authority for the life-his- 

 tories of those which it describes. 



The author is pictured on the 

 rustic seat with her daughter, of whom 



A Study in Bird Psychology. 



BY ROBERT C. MILLER. 302 EVANS STREET, 

 UNIONTOWN, PA. 



I was one day walking along a coun- 

 try road, when I noticed a young robin 

 making a iirst and very awkward 

 attempt to use its sparsely feathered 

 wings. Impelled by the inherent desire 



GIVING THE BOTTLE GENTIAN ITS CHANCE. 



Photograph by G. B. Monroe. 



Copyright 1915 by tiene Strattor.-Portcr. 



she says an idealized picture formed 

 her character of "The Swamp Angel" 

 so prettily described in "Freckles," her 

 first nature novel. i 



Although Mrs. Porter has written a 

 number of novels, she is essentially a 

 nature writer, and a thorough student 

 in her personal observations of the wild 

 creatures. Through her delightful 

 manner of writing she has accom- 

 plished great good in popularizing the 

 love of nature through first-hand study. 

 The common fault among many other- 

 wise interesting writers upon naiure 

 subjects, of enlarging upon th'^ facts 

 and humanizing the wild things in 

 order to make a good story, is not 

 found in her books. Nothing is more 

 wonderful or interesting than the real 

 facts concerning our wild friends. "Th? 

 Bird Woman" has brought them to us 

 in a way that we can all understand, 

 and has woven the love of them into 

 the lives of her characters as it ought 

 to be woven into the lives and charac- 

 ters of us all. 



to have "a bird in the hand," I picked 

 the little fellow up, upon which he set 

 up such an outcry that all the birds 

 in the neighborhood were summoned to 

 the scene. Half-a-dozen robins re- 

 sponded to the appeal for help, a dimin- 

 utive song-sparrow came hastening up 

 to join the noisy convocation, and soon 

 all the birds within hearing distance 

 had assembled, raising such an uproar 

 that I felt quite guilty. What I had 

 essayed to do in secret was being pro- 

 claimed from the house-, or rather, the 

 tree-tops, and I hastily put the birdling 

 down and went away, like a foot-pad 

 surprised by cries of "Stop thief !" 



A few days later I hajjpened upon a 

 young grackle out in the orchard, put it in 

 my coat pocket to see what the results 

 would be. The parent birds raised a 

 great commotion and fluttered wildly 

 from tree to tree above my head. The 

 young bird raised its voice loudly in an 

 appeal for aid, the old grackles chat- 

 tered and squawked, but none of the 

 other birds came to their help. Robins 



