2 Wild Bird Guests 



ful experiences which some of the people have 

 had with birds which have become so fearless 

 that they will sometimes permit one to pick them 

 up. And if you were to express doubt that such 

 experiences would ever come to you, you would 

 learn that there is no mystery about it; that it is 

 simply a matter of being very quiet and gentle 

 with your feathered guests; of being patient 

 with them, and of using a little thought and 

 ingenuity for their comfort and welfare. Meri- 

 den people have done these things and they 

 have been rewarded by having seven species of 

 our winter birds come to their hands for food. 

 Pine grosbeaks, white-winged crossbills, red- 

 polls, pine siskins, white-breasted nuthatches, 

 red-breasted nuthatches and chickadees have 

 thus shown their appreciation of what the people 

 of this little New England village have done for 

 them. Perhaps no other place of equal size in 

 this country has thus been honored. Every 

 year for several years our people have had some 

 memorable experience with birds. 



For example, one severe winter when the pine 

 grosbeaks came down from the north in great 

 numbers, we fed hundreds of them in the gardens 

 of Meriden, and not only the writer but several 

 other bird-lovers fed them as they sat on hand or 

 shoulder. They were so tame that one could sit 



